Falling
by Little-Kity
Summary: Verity Chambers thought her life couldn't get any worse but it did. Untangling lies and deceit, she tries to uncover the mystery concerning her family and who is behind the evil plan to kill them all.
1. Dear Diary

**Hey hey!**

**This is set in the 7th year in the time of the marauders. Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: This counts for the entire story! I'm not going through this again! "I do not own Harry Potter, or any of its characters. If I did, I would be rolling around in my mountains of money and wouldn't be bothered posting this on the internet. I do own however, own Verity Chambers, and the other characters I invented for the purpose of this story. The plot's mine too! Well apart from the Harry Potter bit... so no sueing!"**

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**Dear Diary**

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In the shadows of the owlery, high in one of the towers of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, sat a girl. Alone and miserable, she scribbled into a tattered book, her long brown hair hanging over her face, tears falling onto the pages, spattering and blurring the ink. She paused for a moment, looking up at the door in puzzlement. She was sure she'd heard a noise. She shugged it off, furiously writing with her white feathered quill.

_Dear Diary,_

_I used to wish my life was more exciting. I used to wish I could be part of some adventure, where I would be the hero in some fantastic tale of courage and strength. Where bad things would happen, but due to the fact I was so smart and brave, I would conquer all challenges and live happily after._

_Be careful what you wish for._

_Sure. I'm part of an adventure. Bad things are happening. But I can't overcome them. I'm not smart, brave, courageous or strong. I'm anything but._

_I'm a little bunny, hiding in a hole, away from the big bad wolf. I'm safe for now. But not for forever. The Wolf is hungry. And it will dig and dig and dig. It will sniff me out, it will find me, cowering in the darkness. Then it will seize me and carry me off to where it will devour me._

_I can't run._

_I can't hide._

_There is no escape._

She stopped again as a scratching noise came from the door. She felt a prickle of fear. The owls hooting from all around her offered comfort in bad times, but no protection.

"Who's there?" she called uneasily.

Nothing.

Frowning, she got up and walked slowly to the arched doorway. It creaked open as she leant out and peeked into the corridor, her eyes searching the inky darkness beyond.

Suddenly, a pale hand reached out and snatched at the girl's wrist.

"Did you think you could escape me, Verity?" the thin, high voice sneered.

Abruptly she was jerked forth and was sent flying forward, down the hard stone steps, rolling and tumbling to the bottom, lying there, unmoving. Wicked laughter echoed around the corridor as a tall, thin man walked calmly down the steps after her and strolled casually away.

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**A/N:**

**Ok, it was short. I'm sorry! I'll update again very very soon. :D**

**Thanks to Alisa, Angela, Carmen, Linda and Lydia for reading over this before I posted.**

**Please review! But please don't flame... if there's something wrong, feel free to say so, but flaming is just hurtful and mean. Thanks.**

**Little Kity**


	2. Beginnings

**A/N:**

**Thankyou to The Great and Almighty Po, Nat, Ally, Linding, Aidyl, Angela and HGDM lova for reviewing! Reviews are fun and happiful-making! **

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**Beginnings **

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A few months earlier...

A scarlet train steamed by the platform crowded with many children and adults. Amid the farewells and the hooting of many owls, a small girl with long brown hair stood with her mother.

"I'll miss you, mum," she said, hugging her mother tightly.

The woman laughed. "You'll be fine, Verity. You say that every year."

"But this year I'm in my last... the NEWTs are coming now." she winced, then caught a glance at the tall man standing behind her mother. "What's HE doing here?" Verity snapped.

Her mother frowned. "Come now, Verity. Patrick is a lovely man. Plus now, that's we've decided to get married..." she broke off, looking cross with herself.

"What?"

The man stepped forward and put his arm around her mother's waist. "Leanne and I have decided to get married, sweetheart."

The girl's head was swimming. "Don't call me sweetheart," she growled at him. She turned to her mother. "And when were you going to tell me?"

Leanne went red. "Soon..."

"You weren't going to tell me," Verity accused. "I can't believe you!" she shouted. Many turned to look at her. "First, you have to go out with scum like this, then you plan to marry him without even telling me!"

She swung around and ran for the train, heaving her trunk behind her.

"Verity!" her mother called, but she ignored her.

She jumped onto the train, and flew into the first empty compartment she found, slamming the door shut behind her. She leant against the hard wood, breathing heavily. She couldn't believe her mother was marrying that horrible person. She hated Patrick, even from the first time she saw him, walking through the front door with a bundle of roses.

He seemed nice. But she could see right through him. There was just something about him; that air of arrogance. How could her mother do this?

Peering out the window at the platform, she caught sight of her mother standing there, shaking her head with Patrick holding her. How could she be so blind? That man was no good for her.

But that wasn't half of why she was so upset. What made her her so angry was the fact that her mother wasn't even going to tell her. Verity gritted her teeth in frustration.

The compartment door opened, startling Verity. A girl with flaming red hair came through the door.

"Verity!" she cried, holding out her arms.

Verity half-smiled. "Hi Lily."

Lily dropped her arms. "What's wrong?"

"Mum's getting married again."

Lily looked confused. "But isn't that good? I thought you said you wanted her to get out there and find someone?"

"Yea... someone..." she muttered. "Patrick's horrible. He acts nice around everybody but I can see right through him. He's such a sweet talker and mum's gone for it hook, line and sinker. And to think she wasn't going to even tell me..."

"Oh..." Lily looked apologetic. "Well, let's go find some of the others, and buys lots of chocolate! I can guarantee chocolate will make you feel better! Emily Apylbie swears by it in times of stress."

She grabbed Verity and hauled her out into the corridor, crashing into a group of boys.

"Watch it!" Sirius yelled.

"Sirius, don't tell the good lady to watch it!" James grinned at Lily, who returned it with a glare.

"Pompous git," Verity heard her mutter.

Sirius burst out laughing. "Bad luck mate," he slapped James on the back of the head. James punched him.

Lily and Verity escaped down the corridor, with shouts yells from behind them as James and Sirius entered a brawl.

"Why are boys so violent?" Lily wondered aloud. Verity shrugged half-heartedly, and looked out the windows. She couldn't see her mother, but she could see Patrick, standing aimlessly on the station. She pointed him out to Lily.

"Hey, who's that?" Lily ducked down and stared out the window.

"Patrick?"

"No, the guy next to him." Lily pointed.

He was a tall, thin, proud looking man standing next to Verity's future step-father. Verity had a strong feeling she had seen him somewhere before... but that was impossible. He looked annoyed as he talked to Patrick.

"I wonder who's that?" Verity murmured. She tried to shake the feeling, but it wouldn't go.

"His brother, perhaps?" Lily suggested.

Verity shook her head. "He doesn't have any family; at least, that's what he says..."

"Let's spy on them!" Lily's eyes were alight. Verity started to protest, but Lily cut in. "You don't want him to marry your mother, right? So lets get some dirt on him! And the train's not leaving for another ten minutes." she snapped, as Verity eyed her watch.

She sighed. "Fine."

Lily ran back up the corridor with Verity close behind, past Sirius and James (who were still fighting) and the small crowd that had gathered to watch.

They crept outside and knelt behind a bin located next to the conversing pair.

"You idiot!" The tall man hissed.

"It's not my fault if the brat doesn't like me.." Patrick sulked.

Lily raised her eyebrows at Verity.

"...not to plan," the man was saying.

"What did he say?" Lily whispered. Verity shrugged, straining her ears to catch the words.

"...good side, and you better do it soon!" the man said sharply. He turned on his heel and left before Patrick could say a word.

Patrick groaned loudly, then swung around, crashing into the bin, revealing Lily and Verity. He gaped at them for a moment, then growled and lunged for them. Lily squeaked, stumbled backwards and started to run for the train, but Verity wasn't a quick. He seized her and pulled her close. He smiled horribly.

"Hello dearie, how are you?"

"Err... I'm fine thankyou..." Verity whispered.

"Well, just be careful... you wouldn't want anything... bad to happen now, would you?" Verity shook her head, speechless. "Good." he dropped her to the ground and walked off into the crowds of people on the station.

Shaken, she got up and walked to the train. Lily was waiting inside. "Omigod Verity I'm so sorry I left you I thought you were right behind me and he was really scary and I'm really sorry I left you behind what did he do to you?" she gabbled.

"Err... nothing. Just asked... how I was..."

The train's whistle blew fiercely. Verity shook her head. "Let's talk about this later, ok?" Lily nodded and disappeared into their compartment.

* * *

Verity sat on the rain, staring out the window as she dimly listened to the other girls in the compartment chatter on about their holidays. It was starting to rain, and the drops were spattering against the window, blurring the view of the grey sky outside. She sighed and shifted in her seat. 

What had Patrick and the creepy thin man been talking about? And who was the creepy tall guy?

She'd felt before that Patrick was no good... now she was sure of it. Should she tell her mother what she heard? No... Patrick had practically threatened her, plus she was sure her mother wouldn't believe her in any case. She was so naive.

"So what did you do?" Crystal Shore asked, cutting into her thoughts.

"Wha..?"

"What did you do in the holidays?" Crystal repeated.

"Err... nothing." Verity shrugged. "Mostly did homework."

"I can't believe we're going through the NEWTs this year! Oh my gosh, I'm so going to fail!" Lyla Sapientia sighed, flopping back on her seat.

A chorus of groans echoed through the compartment. "You always get top marks!" Emily Apylbie cried.

"Yea!" the other girls chorused.

Verity stretched like a cat and yawned. "I'm going to go find the lolly cart thing...forgot what's it called," she murmured. "Lunch trolley! That's it.." She stood up and staggered to the door.

"I'll come with you," Lily offered.

The two walked out into the corridor. "Are you going to tell your mother what we heard?" Lily asked.

"I might... but I don't think she'll believe me. She's so damn infatuated with Patrick! I hope he trips and falls down a flight of stairs and dies," she decided savagely.

Lily gaped at her in shock. "You really hate him..."

"He's a creep."

They continued down the corridor and saw the lunch trolley ahead. They approached it.

The plump witch behind the cart smiled broadly. "Hello girls. What would you like to buy?"

Lily chose several Chocolate Frogs and a packet of Bertie Botts Every Flavour Beans, whilst Verity favoured some of Drooble's Best Blowing Gum.

"Better not eat to much, or you'll get fat," Sirius commented from suddenly behind Verity. She shrieked, dropping her packet of lollies.

"Dammit," she muttered crossly, crouching down to pick up the scattered treats. "Seven-second rule! Seven-second rule!" she shouted.

Sirius was confused. "What's that?"

"If you drop food but pick it up within seven seconds, it's good to eat still," Lily explained.

"Ah... just wondering Lily, why won't you go out with James?" Sirius asked suddenly.

"Because he's a git," she replied nonchanantly. "He's head is so inflated it's a wonder he doesn't just float off the ground towards the sky."

James, who was standing out of sight came out and stood next to Sirius. "I am not inflated!" he said indignantly. "And if I ever were, I am deflated now."

Lily scoffed.

"Please, just give me one chance, ONE!" he pleaded. "I'll be good. I'll buy you flowers and chocolate and whatever else you want. And I promise I won't curse Snivellus."

Lily sighed and started to walk up the corridor again with Verity.

"Lily?" he called.

"Fine! Maybe!" she cried out over her shoulder.

James exploded. Well, not literally. But he was happy.

Verity laughed as she listened to the shouts and calls echoing from down the corridor. "You said yes!' she giggled. "I don't think I would have imagined the day that Lily Evans said she'd go out with James Potter!"

"I didn't say yes, I said maybe."

Verity shrugged. "Same thing."

"Ha!"

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That evening, the group of girls sat in the Great Hall, stuffing themselves with the delicious food from their Griffindor Table. Verity piled her plate with many chicken drumsticks and helped herself to some of the noodles as she listened in to the people around her discussing their NEWTs. Lyla was arguing with Crystal about how bad she was going to fail, and Margaret Hadfield was telling Emily Apylbie about her new kitten as she listened in awe. Emily was a great lover of cats. 

Verity was staring over at the other side of the room, at the Ravenclaw Table, where a girl sat glaring at those around her. Miranda Cerritus wasn't one for conversation and mainly kept to herself. But it was no secret of why that was so. Ever since her first day at Hogwarts, she hadn't been one to try and make friends.

_Flashback_

_A littler Verity stood in line and stared out at the sorting hat, wondering which house she was going to be sorted into. She was standing next to a rather tall girl standing disdainfully by the wall, inspecting her nails. _

_"What house do you think you'll get into?" Verity asked her, trying to make some light conversation. The girl glanced up._

_"What's it to you?" she snapped rudely. _

_"Cerritus, Miranda!" the teacher up front called. _

_The girl strode forward and sat primly on the stool, and lowered the hat onto her head. A minute passed in silence. "Ravenclaw!" the hat bellowed. _

_At which point Miranda jumped off the stool, screaming, and chucked the stool halfway across the room. Verity guessed it wasn't quite the house she'd wanted to be in. _

_End of flashback_

Verity gave a short laugh, remembering the look on Miranda's face when she found out she was in Ravenclaw. It was really quite funny, actually.

The food vanished from the plates, and everyone stood up to leave the hall. Verity followed Lily out into the corridors and wove her way through the students before crashing into someone for the second time that day.

"Get off me!" a girl shrieked. Oh no... of all the people to fall on top of, it had to be Miranda. "Get off me!" she cried again.

Verity stumbled back off the girl as she stood up, brushing herself off. "Watch where you're going, freak." she turned and strolled back along the corridor.

Verity snorted and ran after Lily to Griffindor Tower. Miranda had always hated Verity, but she didn't know why. It wasn't as if she'd done anything to her. Sirius Black had gone out with her once... but then they broke up because she was acting so stupid and having hissy fits every time he talked to another girl.

Miranda thought that because he father was rich and important, she could do what she wanted. Ha... what an idiot.

Catching up to Lily, she told her what had happened. Lily laughed. "She really is a git," she sighed, coming to the portrait of the Fat Lady. Someone up the back shouted the password and they continued into the common room.

Verity nodded in agreement.

A brown owl sailed through the window of the common room, struggling to carry a painted metal cage. The owl dropped the cage clumsily on the floor and fluttered to Verity, a note tied to its leg.

She hastily untied it and read the message.

_Sweetheart Verity, _

_I'm sorry I didn't tell you about myself and Patrick. I would have done so sooner, but I knew you weren't fond of him and was worried of your reaction. _

_Patrick sent you an owl for an early birthday present. Her name is May, and I sent a cage with her in case you need it. _

_Your Mother, _

_Leanne._

Verity glared at the letter. Lily, who was reading in a chair by the fire looked up. "Who's owl is that?"

"Mine. Mum's trying to bribe me into liking Patrick." she scoffed.

"So will you keep it?"

"Yeah! I've always wanted an owl... so why shouldn't I keep it?" she demanded. Lily shrugged.

Verity wandered up to her dorm, May fluttering behind her. She dumped the cage on the floor beside her bed and flopped backwards onto the soft mattress, think back to that morning, and the man she had seen talking to Patrick.

She knew she'd seen him somewhere before... she was positive.

Was he good? Was he bad? What did Patrick have to do with him?

She didn't know.

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**A/N:**

**Hello everybody! I made it extra long to make up for the shortness of chapter one!**

**Sorry if that was a bit weird... I was trying to introduce most of the characters whilst attempting to maintain a bit of mystery PLUS I'm trying to establish a plot. I don't know if that worked or not. Lol. If it didn't, please don't forget my story! I always seem to muddle the first chapters, but then it gets better!**

**Thanks to Lydia and Carmen for checking this for me before I posted!**

**I'll try and get Chapter 3 up really soon, but it might take a bit longer than normal coz it's assessment period at school (grr) and there are tests flying all over the place.**

**Please review! Reviews are good and make me happiful :)**

**Little-Kitty**


	3. Food Fight!

**Replies to reviews:**

**_Sakura_: Ah ok. I was trying to think of an analogy of some sort to use and that was about all I could come up with. Lol. Thanks for the review! Reviews are fun and happiful!**

**_Illegitimate Carborundum need not apply_ - (blink) ...was that meant to be hurtful? Oops, sorry mate, it didn't quite work. A pity you couldn't come up with your own insults though... copying and pasting from a website isn't quite what I'd call original... isn't that counted as plagiarism?**

**_Aidyl_: Yay! You can understand it! Thanks!**

**_Angela_: That's for me to know, and for you to find out. Lol. :)**

**_HGDM lova_: Haha... cliff-hangers are fun! Unfortunately for you, there's gonna be quite a few more if I can help it. :D**

**: Indeed :D**

**_The Great and Almighty Po_: Dunno why, but I seem to like writing stories about the past. Lol oh well. Glad you think it's pretty good! Maybe after I'm finished this one, I'll do a fic in the present time.**

**_Lauren:_ Yay thanx!**

**Thankyou to everyone who dropped in helpful or nice reviews. Reviews that are good are fun!**

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**Food Fight! **

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Verity sat in class, dimly listening to Professor McGonagall go on about the NEWTs.

"This year is your most important," Professor McGonagall announced clearly. "This is the year you will study hard and push yourself further than you have before."

Verity stared out the window dully. She hadn't been able to get much sleep in the past week. Nightmares had been coming and going every now and then, keeping her awake. She blinked slowly, looking out the window at the blue sky sleepily.

"Now, onto Hogsmeade..." the professor's voice cut in. She glanced up at the teacher, who cleared her throat before continuing. "The next visit is next week, on Sunday." A chorus of cheers rang out from the students. "As usual, please behave yourselves."

Something hit Verity in the back of the head. "Ow!" she cried, pulling the folded note out of her brown hair and smoothing out the crinkles.

_"Please come with me to Hogsmeade next week... I'll be good and won't curse anyone! xx James xx"_

Verity raised an eyebrow and looked back at a very red-faced James. He pointed to Lily, who was sitting next to Verity. _"For her_" he mouthed.

Sirius, sitting next to him grinned and nudged him. Verity smiled, turning back to the Professor and passed the note to Lily, who gave a small sigh. She scrunched the note up and dropped it on the floor, while James, crestfallen, drooped his head in defeat and started to scribble down the notes the professor was writing on the board.

A small scrap of paper hit him in the forehead. He looked at it in astonishment.

_"Fine"_

"YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!" he shouted, jumping out of his seat and waving the paper above his head. A startled Professor McGonagall stared at him, as did all of the Griffindors and Ravenclaws.

"Mr Potter, are you quite alright?" the teacher asked slowly.

James blushed deeper. He could see Sirius, Remus and Peter trying not to burst into fits of laughter. "Yes..." he mumbled.

"Then please seat yourself and stop disrupting the class." she said sharply.

He sank back down, embarrassed, but pleased.

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Verity and Lily sat in the Great Hall, giggling as they told the others of James's escapade during Transfiguration. James, sitting nearby, glared at them.

"Not my fault!" he called. "But will you really come with me?" he questioned Lily. "Cause if you're just playing with me, I'll set Sirius on you!"

Sirius glanced up from his meal, surprised. "What am I, a pet dog to you or something?"

James shrugged. "Almost." Then he turned back to Lily. "So... will you?"

Lily sighed, for the second time that day. "I said fine, didn't I?"

Sirius gave a short laugh and slapped James on the back. "Well done, mate! You got a girl to go out with you after two years straight of asking!" He then turned his attention back to the gathering of girls. "And speaking of going out, dya reckon you'd want to go out with me to Hogsmeade, Verity?"

She dropped the spring roll that she'd been eating. "What?"

Sirius shrugged. "If you wanted to..." he began eating his lunch again.

Verity turned a bright red colour that made Emily stare at her. "Verity's a tomato!" she giggled.

Verity went redder. "Shut up." she mumbled. Looking around for her bag, she realised she couldn't find it. Then, she spied it under the table a few seats along. She pulled her timetable out of her bag and looked at it. Arithmancy. Bleugh. "I have to go now…" she said automatically, "Arithmancy next."

Lily looked up. "Meet you there, I still want to eat."

Verity left the Hall and started to travel upwards along the majestic staircases, and upon finding the classroom, she sat down in her regular seat in the middle row. Pulling out her workbook and scroll, a scrap of paper fell from the book.

BACK OFF FROM SIRIUS OR I WILL RIP OFF YOUR HEAD AND SHOVE IT DOWN WHAT REMAINS OF YOUR THROAT

She blinked. "Violent..." she murmured, tossing the note out the window. Other students began to file in the room, and so did the teacher, thus beginning the lesson.

Miranda Cerritus was seated directly behind Verity and took the opportunity to throw things at her whilst the teacher wasn't looking. It was finally when Miranda's ink pot came flying through the air, dousing her in thick blue ink, she lost her patience.

"Quit it!" she screamed. "Aargh now I'm covered in ink!" she narrowed her eyes venomously at the blonde girl trying to look innocent from behind her.

"Oh dear..." Professor Vector said quietly, staring at Verity and the dark blue ink running over her arms. "I think you should go and clean up. Miss Cerritus, you should have been more careful than that, letting your ink well fall off your table as such. Five points from Ravenclaw."

Verity gathered her bags and ran from the classroom, down to the Girl's Toilets. Dumping her bag, she cast off her cloak. In frustration, she dumped her cloak in the sink and started to scrub at it.

Cleaning spells could probably remove the stains in a second, but spells weren't allowed in the corridors between classes and this was technically the case.

"Boo!" a scratchy voice echoed from behind her.

Verity jumped, clutching the wet material to her chest and swivelled around to see Moaning Myrtle floating near the ceiling. "Sod off!" she shrieked.

Myrtle shrugged. "Made you look..." she sniggered before disappearing into one of the cubicles. Verity let out a short breath and started scrubbing at her clothes.

* * *

Verity arrived at dinner fuming. The ink wouldn't come out of her cloak (which wasn't so bad considering the cloak was black and the dark blue ink wasn't considerably noticeable) but what really got her into a rage was that she'd just realised her hair was blue as well.

The blue haired girl stormed to Griffindor Table and sat down, piling her plate with pies, pastries and everything in sight except for the tripe. Lily gaped at her.

"You're blue!" she cried in amazement "Well, your hair is, at least...how?

Verity glared at her. "Miranda chucked her ink well at me. I think she is displeased with me."

Lily snorted. "No kidding..."

Verity started to pile her plate with food when someone came up form behind her. "Hi, Miss Blue," Sirius said. "So you coming to Hogsmeade?"

Verity hesitated. She knew Miranda could be terribly vicious towards people, she'd already seen that. She was sure the note was from her. She shrugged the manipulating blonde from her mind. "Uh, sure..."

He grinned. "Great!" he strode off to where the rest of the boys were and sat down to eat.

Lily gave a little sigh. "Oi, Verity, you-know-who's giving death glares to a particular someone..."

Verity looked up at the Ravenclaw table and noticed a little blonde girl staring at her in hatred, and wondered...

What had she started?

One fine Sunday morning, a week later, Verity and Lily met James and Sirius and set off towards Hogsmeade. James kept stuttering to the amusement of the two girls, while Sirius was quite cool and collected. Halfway they were joined by some more of the girl's friends.

"Honeydukes! Honeydukes!" Emily Apylbie was chanting over and over. "Chocolate Frogs! Sugar Quills! Peppermint thingos! Bertie Botts Every Flavour Beans! Pumpkin Pastries!"

Verity half listened to Emily rave off about candy and chocolate, as she looked over at several banners hanging from some of the old buildings.

HOGMANAY FESTIVAL COMING SOON! DEMAND CHOCOLATE!

Emily was sure to catch sight of that. "Hogmanay! A festival held on the last day of the year where children everywhere are allowed to demand chocolate and other candies from the adults! ...Although they may be cancelling it in a few years because the stupid people up at the ministry say that it makes children disrespectful to their elders. Pah!"

"Oh... how awful..." Verity murmured absent-mindedly. She'd had several nightmares during the past week, disrupting her sleep terribly; all consisting of a tall thin man. He was hidden in the mist to Verity, and no matter how hard she ran, he wouldn't appear and closer, or anymore clearly to her. He was a mystery.

"We're here!" Emily cried. "I'm going to Honeydukes now see you later!" she called as she tore off down the street, her money jingling in her pocket.

Lily started to laugh. "Oh well... we're off too..." she looped her arm through James's. "This is bound to be a disaster, but at least I'm free of the nagging!"

So Verity was left alone with Sirius, in the middle of the main street in Hogsmeade. "So... what do you want to do?" Verity asked, uncertain.

"Well... I was hoping to give you these..." he swept one hand from behind his back and produced a bunch of big purple tulips. _(A/N: yes Lydia, I'm looking at you...lol)_

"Oh... thankyou!" she stammered. "That's really... sweet of you."

Someone pushed roughly past Verity, knocking her to the ground. With a little screech, she dropped the flowers and landed on her tailbone painfully. Moaning, she rolled around onto her stomach and tried to get up, but was pushed to the ground again.

"Oh! I'm soo sorry!" come the silky voice of Miranda. "Didn't see you there." she laughed scornfully, winking at Sirius, before striding off giggling.

Sirius helped Verity up. "I'm sorry," he apologised. "She's just being a bitch because we used to be dating but then we broke up because she was cheating on me; I think she's taking it out on you."

"Really? I didn't quite notice." Verity sighed.

"Well, let's have something to eat then," Sirius shrugged.

At the end of the day, Verity trudged back into the Griffindor Common Room, tired, but happy. Lily caught sight of her.

"So how was it?" she asked eagerly.

"How was what?"

"The date!"

"What date?"

Lily rolled her eyes. "You and Sirius, duh."

"Oh that... that wasn't a date, just a get together, really. How about you?"

Lily half-shrugged. "Turns out James isn't as big a jerk as I originally thought he was."

"Wow..."

Crystal Shore came through the portrait hole suddenly.

"Oi, all of you... dinner's coming soon. You better get down to the Great Hall."

Verity and Lily nodded, following Crystal down to dinner.

Crystal dropped behind Lily and moved closer to Verity as they walked.

"Hey... I heard you were going out with Sirius..." she murmured.

Verity rolled her eyes. "Why is everyone interrogating me?"

"I'm not interrogating you... just offering advice."

Verity stopped, as did Crystal. Lily didn't notice and kept going down the corridor. "What?"

Crystal bit her lip. "Just... he asked you out like last week... and people have been talking. Sirius is a heartbreaker. He's gone out with half the bimbos in the year... not that you are one, of course," she added hastily at Verity expression. "It's just... be careful, that's all. No-one wants to see you get hurt."

They continued down the silent corridors and entered the Great Hall. Lily was waiting, and waved energetically at Verity. "Lasagne!" she called.

Verity sat awkwardly on the seat, avoiding any glances her way.

_People have been talking..._

"Bet Miranda started that." she thought miserably. Throwing away any bad thoughts, she started shovelling food into her mouth, hoping for a more quiet night than day.

Things never really turn out how you want.

"Hiya, freak." Yes, it was Miranda.

"Sod off."

"Why should I?" she sulked. "You made Sirius leave me."

Verity turned in exasperation to the surly blonde behind her. "You did that yourself," she said curtly.

"You think you're so smart," Miranda hissed. "But just you wait... I'll have the last laugh."

"He who laughs last thinks slowest." Verity scoffed. Most of the people surrounding them stopped eating and started to stare.

"Go to hell."

"Ooh that really hurt my feelings."

"Sarcasm is the lowest form of wit."

"Oh, sorry I thought that was you?"

Back and forth it went, quite like an annoyingly even tennis match. Back and forth, back and forth until...

"Did you know you're depriving some village of it's idiot?" Verity wondered aloud.

"You're just a schizophrenic bitch!" Miranda cried.

"Beats being alone."

Miranda picked up a glass and threw it at Verity, drenching her in apple juice.

Verity (and those who were gathered around, watching for entertainment) gasped, and retaliated by pitching her glass at Miranda. Miranda ducked, and the sticky substance splattered itself all over Lila Sapientia.

Lila screamed at threw her omelette at Verity, who also ducked, with the omelette therefore wrapping itself around Emily Apylbie, who reacted by hurling her dinner at Lila.

The flying plate and its contents flew through the air, hitting Miranda, who shrieked and threw it back. It hit Sirius.

"Omigod, Sirius I'm so - "

SPLAT.

Sirius, who actually seemed to be enjoying this, pushed Miranda's face into his pie. Miranda swung around blindly, whacking James fair across the side of the head. He picked up his pie and aimed for her, but unfortunately hit Lily.

Lily, coated with cream and bits of peach, hurled a tray of chicken drumsticks at James.

The chicken drumsticks flew off the plate (which actually did hit its mark, to the annoyance of James) but the food went flying everywhere, hitting nearly everyone on the Griffindor table.

The Griffindors retaliated upon one another, which soon spread to the entire hall. Shouts of "food fight!" echoed through the vast room.

The teachers were rushing through the hall, trying to stop it all, but to no avail.

Miranda was screaming with rage as she tackled Verity and pulled her to the floor. Verity struggled, trying to get away, but Miranda kept her down.

"Let me go!" she shrieked. "Sod off!"

Miranda held Verity's arms against the floor. "If I were you, I'd be very careful." she warned. "I'm not dumb. If you cross me again, I will hurt you badly."

Verity felt the pressure come off her arms and saw Miranda jogging off past the fighting students and their food.

A deafening bang exploded from the front of the hall. Professor McGonagall was at the front, surrounded by all the other teachers. They looked mad.

Uh oh.

* * *

**Author's Note:**

**Sorry it took so long! Really, I am. Don't blame me, blame the education system and their evil tests and assignments! And English teachers and their love of debates. Debating sux! Haha Lydia you're next. :-)**

**Pleeeeease review! Reviews are really uplifting for writers. Yay!**

**Thanks to Lauren, Carmenand Lydia for checking this before I posted!**

**Little-Kity**


	4. The Wedding

**Thankyou to_ Aidyl, Meg, Bron, MaJeStA _and _AlIsA_ for reviewing! Yay!**

* * *

**The Wedding**

* * *

Verity groaned as she mopped the floors of the Great Hall, cleaning up bits of cream peach pie and chicken drumsticks. Everyone who had been involved in the food fight was to clean the mess up without magic. 

As the last of the omelette was scraped from the dark, starry ceiling by a petrified 1st year balancing on a rickety ladder, Verity threw down her mop in triumph. She was finished! Gathering up her bag and cloak, she ran from the hall with Lily, past James and Sirius ("I creamed Snivellus!") before stopping short just in front of the entrance hall, as two figures emerged from the darkness.

The woman shook her head, her dark down hair gathering at her shoulders. The man looked as conniving as ever.

_What were her mother and Patrick doing here?_

She stiffened as they approached.

"Verity, dear!" Leanne cried, throwing out her arms and engulfing Verity in a hug, smothering her in thick mink coat.

Verity fought her way out of the suffocating embrace, and stared at her mother. "Where did you get that _thing_ from?"

Her mother smiled. "A lovely gift from your future step-father."

"Well, it seems like the sort of vile thing he'd buy. Figures why it's so horrid." Her mother looked hurt. Verity knew she was being a brat, but she couldn't stop herself. "Did you know that some poor animal was brutally slaughtered for you to get that? It's just as horrid as him." She looked defiantly at him.

Patrick started forward, fire in his eyes, but stopped himself suddenly. He forced an angry smile. "I know you don't like me, dear, but I'm sure that we will becomes good friends after your mother and I get married tomorrow."

"Tomorrow?" Verity gasped, aghast.

Leanne piped up. "That's why we came here. We want you to come to the wedding, sugar pie."

"Don't call me that!" she snarled. Her throat closed up as she looked at the disgusting being before her. There was no word hideous enough to describe Patrick. He was the scum of the earth, and even worse, her mother was too blind to see it.

She couldn't speak. Without a word, she turned her back and walked silently away. "Verity!" her mother hissed. "Don't be such an insolent brat! Why do you do this to me? Can't you be happy for me for once?"

Verity kept walking. Footsteps echoed from behind her and she was caught by the shoulder and swivelled around. "Don't turn away from me! This is the first chance I've had since your father did that to us that I can be happy!"

Words burst forth from Verity's mouth. "Can't you see this toad isn't good for you? I've never tried to deny you happiness! I wanted you to get married again after Dad died, I really did! But not to him! You only met him two months and five days ago! I've been counting! I only want the best for you, and I always have. Scumbag Patrick is not the best!" she screamed.

She took a breath and continued. "If my father was alive now, I'd go and live with him! Not that I'd know anything about him, because even though he died when I was a baby, you still won't even give me his name!" Verity could see by the look on her mother's face that she'd gone too far.

Leanne stepped back as if she'd been struck. Tears appeared from her large hazel eyes and slid down her face. She swallowed painfully. "Suit yourself." she replied calmly, turning and walking from the hall, her fur cloak swirling around her feet.

Patrick looked smugly up at her before following Leanne out the front doors.

Verity swore violently and kicked the stone pillar next to her, causing her to shriek in pain and curse even more. She heard giggling from below her and realised with horror her fight had been witnessed by half the school.

She stormed up to Griffindor Tower and hurled herself onto her bed, erupting into tears. She hated acting like this, but she couldn't help it. Patrick was no good. How did her mother not see that?

She rolled over and rummaged through her trunk, pulling out a small notebook. Dear Diary... she started to write.

A few hours later, Lily came up the stairs. She smiled sadly. "Hi, Verity. That was some fight..."

Verity groaned. "Please don't. I'm guilty already. I don't want to feel any worse."

"It's not you fault," Lily comforted. "It was your natural reaction; he's a jerk. And there's just something about him; even I can tell. Have you worked out what he was doing at the station with the creepy tall guy?"

Verity shook her head no.

"I would've done the same thing..." Lily offered. Verity snorted. "No, I would've. And I bet even Petunia would too."

"Thanks... I really feel better now that you've compared me to your sister." Verity murmured. Lily laughed.

_

* * *

_The next morning, Verity awoke. With a start she remembered all that had happened the night before. Today Patrick Malus would be her step-father. Aargh. And she would be Verity Chambers Malus. The thought sickened her. 

She lay in bed, thinking sadly of the way it used to be, just herself and her mother, with the occasional boyfriend visiting. She wished any of them could be her mother's husband. Anyone but Patrick.

May swooped through the window with a hoot and dropped a purple glittered envelope on her bed. She tore it open, half expecting what would be inside.

_Dearest Sweetheart, _(Verity groaned to herself)

_We are getting married today whether you like it or not. I would still like you to come however. Included is a pass to allow you to leave Hogwarts for the day to attend. _

_The wedding begins at 1pm. _

_Should you wish to come, send back and your Aunt Kate will be waiting at Platform 9 3/4 for you. _

_Leanne_

Verity sighed and glanced at her watch. She'd already missed breakfast. Vile was the thought of Patrick, but she couldn't let her mother down.

"I'm going to regret this..." she moaned, scribbling back a message.

* * *

Verity left Hogsmeade station glumly, already regretting her decision. By the time she reached Platform 9 3/4, she was wondering if it was possible to run back the way she had come. But alas, her cheery Aunt Kate was already there, and upon catching sight of her, ran up and threw her arms around her. 

"Oooh." My little Vera, I haven't seen you since you were this big!" she measured out the approximate size of a baby with her hands. "Oooh, won't it be an exciting day today?" she bounced up and down.

Kate, short and plump, was a different picture from her tall sister Leanne, and more eccentric too. "Come, come, we're going to take the train to Piccadilly, and I'll drive you to my place to get changed. From there, we're going straight to the church!"

Verity groaned quietly as her aunt pulled along her trunk for her and skipped down the station.

* * *

She sat in the small white chapel quietly, after Kate took her back to her cute little house upon where she forced her to don a long blue dress. ("You mustn't wear your robes!" she was adamant.) 

A few people were there already, murmuring quietly. Patrick was up the front, smirking in that infuriating way of his. Verity wanted to strangle him. Breathing hard, she stood up and walked to the side door of the church, opening it into another room beyond, where a tall woman clothed in a puffy white dress examined herself in a mirror.

She turned around and smiled sadly. "So you came." She held out her arms.

Verity stepped forward into the hug. "But only for you." she said. She breathed in deeply, and looked her mother in the eye. "I'm not here to say I support you and Patrick. I despise Patrick; I'm not going to pretend otherwise. The only reason I came today was because I don't want to let you down."

Leanne nodded slowly. "But my dear, why do you not like him? He has done nothing to warrant you to act like this."

Verity groaned. "Why can't you see it?" she exclaimed. "Under that happy loving little mask, he's not good! I can sense it. Can't you see it?"

"Sense it!" She laughed. "My dear, there's nothing wrong with Patrick. Your 'sense' is a little off this time."

Verity stamped her foot angrily. "I know what I'm talking about!"

Her mother looked cross. "I will marry Patrick today. And if you do anything, anything at all to ruin it, I'm not letting you come home for the holidays. Now go." She pushed Verity back out the door. "I don't want another word about it." she said firmly, shutting the door.

Patrick came by her casually and bent down to her. "I don't know where you get your ideas from, but I would be very careful if I were you..."

"You don't scare me. Anyway, I know you're using her!" Verity accused. I don't know what you're using her for, but I know you're up to something."

"I have no idea what you're talking about."

The blare of the organ startled her and Patrick. He walked quietly down the front and Verity sat down again. As the wedding procession began, Verity sank down into her seat. What a horrible day.

After the torturous hour was over, Verity stood in the side room of the chapel for the reception. She could cry. Patrick was married to her mother. He was her step-father. Aargh.

She sidled over to the banquet table, where a beautiful, four-storey wedding cake sat primly as the centrepiece of the table. She wanted to smash it so badly. She glanced over to where Patrick and Leanne were seated at the end of the room. Patrick cuaght her stare and smiled in a satisfied way; gloating at her. Eurgh how she hated him...

Balling her hands into fists, she leant up against the wall. She noticed Patrick looking at her, then excusing himself and leaving the table, then coming down the room towards her.

"Hello, Verity." She glared at him. He ignored her and continued on. "Ah, the marriage is over; legal and final. And because of that, I would like to say to you: There's nothing you can do now. In answer to your earlier accusation - yes, I am in fact using your mother. Unfortunately for you, I'm not going to bother telling you why." He paused, and looked over his shoulder. "But I doubt you'll really need to find out from me; they do say that when you die, all questions are answered... and that time is coming oh so soon for you and your mother..."

Verity gaped at him in horror. "You're going to kill us!" she shrieked. Without thinking, she pushed at him hard, sending him sprawling backwards, onto the table and smashing the magnificent cake. Well... it wasn't so magnificent now.

Leanne gasped and rushed to her husband's side. "Verity!" she shouted. "How dare you do such a thing to Patrick!"

Verity's head was whirling. "He's going to kill us!" she screamed. "He said it just then! He's going to kill us! He's going to kill us!" she was breathing hard.

"Good lord!" Leanne cried. "Verity I've had enough of this!"

"I'm certainly not going to kill her!" Patrick coughed.

"Why won't you believe me?" Verity yelled. "How will you possibly believe this scum and not me? I'm your daughter!"

Leanne's eyes flashed. "Get out." she hissed. She helped the cream and jam coated groom off the floor, then pointed at the door. "My daughter wouldn't do this to me. Get out."

She couldn't believe her ears. "But how will I get back to Hogwarts?" she said incredulously.

"How should I care? Just go!"

Verity started around her, at all the people gathered around her; their accusing eyes. She couldn't stand it. Running past them all, she tore to the door and wrenched it open, hurling herself out into the cold night's air.

She jogged down the street, her breath making fog which swirled around her. She ran past the unfamiliar houses and broke through a line of trees, the branches getting caught in her hair. Breaking away from them, she came out onto a dimly lit street. She slowed down and stopped, looking around her. She had no idea where she was. How would she get back to Hogwarts now? She could try and apparate, but she was terrified of doing that. Apparition wasn't something she was very good at, even though she'd passed her test the year before.

Tears falling from her eyes, she collapsed onto the pavement in defeat and crawled under a small pine tree, before lying down and looking up at the stars. She didn't know how long she'd lain there before she drifted off to sleep.

* * *

She woke with a start. Where was she? She appeared to be in the back of a car. "Oh my god!" she thought wildly, looking around her. "I've been kidnapped!" She screamed loudly and kicked at the doors. 

"Verity! My goodness dear, it's just me! Remember me?" Someone took her hand. It was Aunt Kate.

"Oh..." she swallowed."I thought I'd been kidnapped." Kate laughed.

"Oh no, my dear. I'd never kidnap you. After you ran out from that little... fiasco back at the chapel, I decided to go out and look for you. It's a good thing I found you too. Whatever were you doing under that tree though?"

Verity shook her head. She didn't even know herself; or what she'd been thinking.

"Oh well." Kate leaned over and kissed her forehead. "I'm going to get you back to Hogwarts, dear. Don't you worry." She climbed into the front driver's seat and started up the car.

After a short drive, Kate pulled up at her house. "Now, you've passed your apparition test, haven't you?" Verity nodded. "Well, we're going to apparate into Hogsmeade and walk back up to Hogwarts. You alright with that?" Verity shook her head again. She'd never really liked apparating, especially after splinching herself the year before. It was a painful experience she never wanted to repeat.

"Oh.." Kate looked crestfallen. "Well, I'll help you then. It's just much easier than driving you to Piccadilly station, then taking a train to Kings Cross and then to Hogsmeade. Will you be able to do it?"

Verity swallowed, and nodded. She gripped Kate's arm and held on tight. Following Kate's lead, she half spinned and with a gasp, felt herself being pulled to her destination. She wobbled for a bit, unstable, but was steadied by her aunt. "Let's go." she gestured up the main road through Hogsmeade, which lead up to the castle.

Verity arrived at the castle and stood in the entrance hall. Kate hugged her. "I'll have a talk with Leanne, alright? It's terrible that you two have been torn apart in such a way. I'll see you later then, ok?"

"Thankyou," Verity whispered. Kate smiled and left through the front doors.

Verity turned and walked into the middle of the hall. She could hear noises from the Great Hall. It must have been dinner time. Deciding to skip the meal, she went left and went up into Griffindor Tower. With a surprise, she found Lily waiting on her bed.

"Something went wrong, didn't it?"

Verity burst into tears and rushed forward into Lily's arms. "Don't worry... just tell me all about it and we can write hate mail to Patrick together." Verity laughed through her tears but still couldn't keep them back.

"So what went wrong?" Lily asked.

Verity sat on the bed and looked at her hands.

"He's going to kill me. And he's going to kill my mother."

* * *

**Author's Note**

**Thankyou to my bestest friend Margaret and my other bestest friend Linda who both helped me write this chapter!**

**Also thanks to Lydia, Carmen, Linda and Margaret for editing this before I uploaded!**

**I would also like to specially thank Lydia for forcing me to post this chapter. I was ready to give up (even though I promised I wouldn't) because I realised I subconsciously plagiarised a little phrase from Charlie's Angels. You made me cry, but at least I posted!**

**Please review! Pretty please with a cherry on top! Reviews are fun to read!**

**Pwease?**

**Thankyou!**

**Little-Kity**


	5. Flight of the Snape!

**YAAAAAAAY! Do you know how many reviews I got? I GOT TWELVE! YAAAAAAY THANKYOU EVERYBODY! NOW I HAVE THIRTY-TWO WONDERFUL REVIEWS FOR MY STORY!**

**Thankyou to Blue-Belt, Flatkatsi (lol), Aidyl, Thevil, HGDM-lova, xx, Lauren, Kris, Yellow Monkey, Emma and Nelson for reviewing chapter four! YAY!**

**Although Nelson, I didn't quite understand what you meant in your review... but thanx anyways!**

**Reviews are GOOD:-D **

**Lol I'm hypo today...**

* * *

**Flight of the Snape!**

* * *

Lunch time at Hogwarts, where many girls and boys sat at their tables happily eating and chattering on with their friends. Well, all but one.

Verity Chambers cowered under the covers of her bed up in the girl's dormitories, curtains drawn around her in the dark room. She'd been hiding in the girl's dormitories for the past week, only leaving to attend class and eat a quick meal every now and then.

Footsteps echoed from the stairwell.

Lily walked quietly to the bed and sat on Verity's trunk. "You still haven't gotten up? Oh dear," she whispered. "Are you alright?"

Verity rolled over and peered through the curtains at her friend. "I'm scared," she said softly.

"Well, I'm sure you don't need to be scared." Lily shrugged. "I mean, not much can happen to you at Hogwarts, can it?" She gave a slight smile, but it soon faded.

"But what about my mum?" Verity stared at the ceiling. "She's all alone in the house with _him_; he can do anything to her when he wants to."

Lily leant on the bed. "Why?"

"Why what?"

"Why does he want to kill you and your mum? Like, does your mum have some massive fortune he wants to get his hands on?"

Verity thought for a moment. "No... Mum does alright, but it's not like she's rich or anything."

"Maybe your dad left some money behind when he uh..."

"Died? It's alright; he died when I was only a little baby. I can hardly remember him. But no, he didn't leave any money behind as far as I know." Verity sat up and started to fluff her pillow. "I have no idea why he wants to hurt us, but he will."

"Then tell someone." Lily murmured. "Tell McGonagall or... or even Dumbledore."

Verity looked at her. "I can't. Do you know how mum reacted at the wedding?"

"Well... you had just smashed up her wedding cake by pushing Patrick into it..."

"That's not the point. I was screaming: 'He's going to kill us!' at her and she wouldn't listen. She never listens. Now she's not letting me home for the Christmas holidays. She's not even talking to me - I sent three messages last night with May and she just tore them up and made May bring them back to me. If I go to someone, she's going to kick me out of the house for good and probably I'll never even see her again."

"Well you could get kicked out of the house and have something done to Patrick; or not get kicked out of the house and have your mother die. Your choice." Lily said tartly.

She was right. "Ok then." Verity decided. "I'll go to Professor McGonagall now."

Lily smiled. "Good girl. I'll go with you. And afterwards let's go outside into the sun. It's the weekend after all."

Verity quickly got dressed and scuttled down the stairs, closely followed by Lily. She made her way through the corridors and up to the Professor's office but paused at the door.

"Go on," Lily mouthed.

Reluctantly, Verity knocked on the wooden door. "Come in," she heard.

She pushed at the door and edged into the room. Professor McGonagall looked up from her desk, and set down the quill she had been writing with.

"Ah, Miss Chambers. I am to assume you are here about why you were not present at any classes in the past week?" She arched an eyebrow.

"Oh..." she glanced back at Lily who nodded. "Well... in a way." She explained what had happened with Patrick.

The Professor leaned back in her chair and eyed Verity carefully. "So, Miss Chambers, you believe that your step-father Patrick Malus is indeed trying to kill yourself and your mother?"

Verity shifted awkwardly. "Well he did say so, Professor. That's why I pushed him in the cake. Well, no, I mean, I didn't mean to push him in the cake, that was accidental, but -"

"I understand, Miss Chambers." McGonagall stopped her. Verity blushed and looked at her hands.

"Well, I suppose if you are genuinely concerned, I can contact your mother -"

"No!" Verity cried. "You can't contact her, she'd kill me! Please, isn't there any other way you can do something?"

"Well then, Miss Chambers, what do you want me to do?"

"I don't know," she mumbled. "That's why I came here." She could feel the tears well up again. She shook her head slightly, trying to rid herself of them.

McGonagall sighed. "My dear, there is little you can do. I suggest you allow me to talk with your mother. Perhaps she will then see what you are trying to convey to her. If not... I am sure your mother is aware of what she is doing."

Verity walked out of the office and leant back against the cool rock wall with a sigh.

* * *

That afternoon Verity and Lily sat in the library, silently doing homework. Verity moaned and buried her head in her arms. Lily was looked up desperately and patted her on the back, trying to comfort her.

Lily looked apologetically at her. "You never know, Leanne might turn around once a teacher approaches her about it."

Verity didn't reply.

Lily fidgeted. "Verity?"

"I'm falling."

"You're what?"

"I'm falling. I've been pushed off a cliff and I'm starting to fall. I don't know where I'll land or even if I'll survive."

Lily frowned. "Of course you'll survive." She said, trying to cheer Verity up. "And so will your mother. And then you'll spend the rest of your life writing short stories for the Daily Prophet."

"I've been pushed off a cliff and I'm starting to fall," a voice mimicked. Verity looked up and saw Miranda standing nearby, surrounded by a bunch of girls. She laughed shrilly, sweeping her silky blonde hair into a bun and securing it with a clip.

Verity looked with distaste at Miranda. Under her robes, she could clearly see a terribly short mini-skirt and a ripped T-shirt. Good grief.

She forced a smile. "Hello Miranda. You look like crap. Is that in style now?" Lily snorted and giggled behind her hands.

Miranda stopped laughing abruptly and narrowed her eyes at the brunette and the red-head. "I suppose you'd know all about that now, wouldn't you now?"

"Oh yes. I was just thinking; you should slip into something more comfortable... like a coma." She smiled sweetly at the glowering girl before her. "It might be in your best interests."

"Cow." Miranda turned on her heel and walked down the corridor. Just before turning the corner, she looked back over her shoulder. "It might also be in your best interests to check up on that boyfriend of yours, Chambers. You too, Evans." she laughed spitefully and disappeared.

Lily rushed to the window and looked out of it to the grounds below and groaned. "James and Sirius are at it again!"

Verity too went to the window and looked out. She could see five shapes surrounded by a circle of cheering people.

Oh no. She was in no mood for any more things to go wrong. She sighed and half-heartedly followed Lily as she ran down the corridor.

The two made it outside and Lily ran towards to crowd of people. Verity held back staring at James's and Sirius's work.

Snape was flying around the air, occasionally skimming the surface of the lake and hitting a few trees along the way. Flustered, his hair flying his face and bellowing useless curses, he somersaulted and twirled as Sirius directed his wand. James was pointing and laughing, yelling a few instructions. Peter was red and looked awkward as if he didn't know what to do. And Remus was pretending nothing was happening as he buried his head in a book.

The crowd however didn't want to miss anything as they gasped and laughed as the Slytherin flew spectacularly through the air. "Flight of the Snape!" they cheered.

Verity herself could help but laugh, but Lily charged up to James and smacked him hard across the face. Sirius stopped suddenly, staring at the bright mark on James's cheek and momentarily forgetting about Snape at the end of his wand.

Snape, freed of the spell, instantly hurtled down through the air and landed with a splash in the lake.

There was a loud roar of laughter from the crowd as Severus floundered in the water trying to keep himself afloat; weighed down by his robes.

Lily however wasn't laughing. "You git!" she shouted. "You promised you wouldn't do it anymore! And you're head boy for goodness sake!" She stamped her foot and headed down towards the lake where several Slytherins were attempting to haul Snape out of the water.

James was crestfallen. "Wait!" he called. "Does this mean you're not going to come with me to the next Hogsmeade visit?"

Lily glared at him and disappeared into the crowds of cheering students without a word.

James wailed and punched the nearest thing to him. She knew she shouldn't have stood next to him.

Verity screamed as James's fist connected with the side of her head. The world spinning around her, she collapsed to the ground.

"Oh my God!" James yelled. "I'm sorry Verity! I didn't mean to hit you! I thought you were Sirius!"

"You what?" Sirius's brow was furrowed. "Thanks a lot!" He lunged at James and wrapped his arm around his throat. James choked and whacked Sirius in the stomach. A new fight had started now.

Verity groaned and tried to get up. She staggered and almost fell again, but was caught by someone.

"Are you alright?" a voice asked. She shook her head. "Oh, well let me help you. Do you need to go to the hospital wing?"

Verity shut her eyes. Her head was pounding. She nodded.

"Ok then…" the person guided her away from the people rushing about and into the school. She opened her eyes and looked at the boy helping her.

"I know you," she rubbed her head. "You're in my Arithmancy class…"

"Oh yes," the boy helped her up the stairs. "I'm Liam Clemens. You're Verity Chambers, right?" she nodded.

They reached the hospital wing and Liam guided her inside and sat her on a bed. "Ok, here you go; I'll just get Madame Pomfrey out to have a look at you." He vanished into the room up the back of the wing.

Verity groaned and massaged the side of her head. It ached badly. James could certainly hit hard.

Liam re-emerged with Madame Pomfrey who bent down to inspect Verity's head. "Hmm..." she turned Verity's face to the side. "How many fingers am I holding up?" she questioned her, holding up two fingers.

Verity blinked and focused on the nurse's hand. "Four."

"Right." Madame Pomfrey bustled to a cupboard nearby and pulled out a green bottle and poured something into a small cup. "Drink this," she ordered.

Verity gulped down the strange concoction and winced at the bitter taste. Almost immediately her head cleared up.

"I think you had a concussion," Madame Pomfrey held up two fingers again. "How many fingers?"

"Two?"

Pomfrey nodded, satisfied.

"Ok, you can go now." Verity nodded and voiced her thanks to Madame Pomfrey before leaving the room with Liam.

"Uh... thanks." she said to him outside in the corridor.

He blushed slightly. "No problem," he shrugged. "Well... see you next Arithmancy lesson." He waved and left.

* * *

Verity returned to the Griffindor common room and made her way up to the dorms, where she found Lily sitting on her bed, working in a book.

"Why are you up here?" Verity asked.

"James," she muttered. "He's a huge idiot," she looked up and gasped. "What happened to your face?" she cried, aghast.

Verity frowned and rummaged through her trunk to find her mirror. Her left temple was black and bruised. Damn. Although Madame Pomfrey had cured her concussion, she had forgotten to do something about Verity's face.

She shrugged. "James accidentally hit me," putting the emphasis on accidentally, as to not aggravate Lily any further. It didn't seem to help.

"WHAT!" Lily exploded. "Why did he hit you?" she burst out angrily.

"Uh... he was upset you dumped him and thought I was Sirius."

Lily jumped up and flew down the stairwell. Uh oh... this was really going to be bad. She followed Lily slowly down the stairs and emerged in the common room just in time to see Lily snatch up a book and bring it heavily down on James's head.

James bellowed in pain and clutched at his head.

"You git!" Lily shouted. "You punched Verity! What the hell did you do that for?"

James moaned and slipped off the chair onto the floor with a bump. "I didn't mean to," he complained. "It was her fault for standing next to me," he grumbled.

"Her fault?" Lily raged. "Oh you're insufferable!" she stormed out of the common room, leaving James scowling on the floor.

"What are you looking at?" he whined at those watching him with amusement.

Lyla Sapientia appeared at the portrait hole suddenly. "Uh, Verity? Professor McGonagall wants you in her office now..."

Verity's heart skipped a beat. "Why?"

"I think it has something to do with your mum. I think she came up to the school or something. But anyway um Professor McGonagall wants you right now."

Verity swore silently. She breathed slowly in and out and walked silently out of the common room up towards the professor's office.

Her mother was reeeeally angry. She hadn't even seen her yet but she could tell she would be. Why else would she be up at the school within the same day Verity had seen Professor McGonagall?

She knocked lightly on the door of the professor's office, and entered the room for the second time that day.

Professor McGonagall sat straight and formidable behind the desk. Before her sat Leanne, with a vulgar looking hat perched upon her head, and the sneering monster that was Patrick Malus.

The Professor nodded curtly at Verity and motioned to a seat which had just appeared at the desk.

Slowly, Verity sat down; her heart sinking. Leanne stared at her, her usually soft eyes sharp and flashing. She cleared her throat.

"I would like to settle this madness at once," she announced. "Patrick is my dear husband and I cannot imagine him even thinking of harming either of us. Verity is simply jealous that she will not be the only one in my life now. She must come to terms with that."

"Come to terms that Patrick is a murder to be?" Verity retorted. "You don't know anything about him! He might already be a murderer!"

Leanne glared harshly at Verity. "Patrick is not a murderer, and I know that he never will be."

"Then you're an idiot!" Verity cried.

Leanne gasped and looked ready to shout something else back at her daughter, but Professor McGonagall interrupted.

"Mrs Chambers -"

"Malus." Leanne corrected.

Professor McGonagall sighed. "Mrs _Malus_, I have to say that when your daughter saw me earlier this morning, I believe she was genuinely concerned."

Leanne snorted. "She's just being a brat. Being a single parent for most of Verity's life, I must admit that I spoilt her sometimes, but now she is just being completely selfish. Ever since her father left us when she was child - "

"What!" Verity exclaimed. "Dad left us? I thought you said he died!"

Leanne looked startled. "Oh... yes he did," She looked suddenly pale. "I didn't tell you this, but he left the house only a few months before... before he died. But don't change the subject! I want you to stop this selfishness now and let Patrick and myself simply be."

"I'm not being selfish," Verity said quietly. "He's going to kill us. He said so. I'm sorry if you don't believe me, but it's the truth."

Then Patrick spoke up. "Don't start with the sentimental crap now. Your mother's onto you and so am I. Why can't you be happy for us? You're just an ungrateful little mongrel who has never really appreciated her mother and will do anything possible to make her miserable. You are a disgusting..."

She wanted to scream. She wanted to scream and scream and jump upon the Professor's desk and scream and yell and tear Patrick to pieces; to shake her mother into sense; to make her realise who Patrick was. As hard as it was though, she tried to remain calm.

She was never good at controlling her temper.

With a cry of rage, Verity started up from her seat and leapt at Patrick. She had just enough time to register the look of surprise and anger on his face as she tackled him to the floor. She hit at him hard with her fists as she rolled about on the floor; oblivious to the Professor's shouts and orders and her mother's wails.

Verity felt something wrap itself around her waist and felt herself being dragged away from the writhing man on the floor. Professor McGonagall, flustered and ordering, had thrown herself at Verity and dragged her away from Patrick. Leanne tried to help the man up off the floor, but it seemed he didn't want any help.

He pointed at Verity and began shouting curses and roaring obscenities of all sorts at her.

Verity shouted back, trying to free herself from McGonagall's iron grip. Leanne held onto her husband and was also shrieking profanities at her daughter.

"Stop it! Stop it now!" McGonagall bellowed angrily. No-one took any notice.

"How dare you!" Leanne was screaming. "You vulgar, horrid child!"

"Look at him! Look at him! He's the vulgar one!" Verity kicked and squirmed, but still couldn't escape from McGonagall.

"I've put up with seventeen years of you and look what you've done to me!" Leanne swayed and grabbed onto Patrick for support. "I wish you were never born!"

Verity felt like she'd been slapped. "I hate you!" she screamed. "I hate you and I hate him! You deserve one another! I hope he does kill you and while you're dying you can think back to me and know I was right all along!"

"Enough!" McGonagall roared. She whipped out her wand and brought it down suddenly.

Red sparks showered the room. Verity, released from the Professor's grip, flung herself to the floor and covered her head as the sparks rained down on her.

She looked up. Leanne was white and Patrick looked no better. Professor McGonagall was straight and tall, her wand above her head, nostrils flaring in anger.

"Enough," she repeated. "I will not have you people brawling in my office." She pointed to Verity. "You, Miss Chambers, will go back to Griffindor Tower. I expect to see you at our next Transfiguration lesson." She turned to Leanne and Patrick. "And you two, I will talk to further."

Verity fled the room and hastily made her way back to the Griffindor Tower.

She still felt angry at her mother, but embarrassed at her outburst.

_I hope he does kill you and while you're dying you can think back to me and know I was right all along…_

Little did she know that she would look back on that comment one day and regret it terribly...

* * *

**Author's Note:**

**Yay for the end of chapter five! I'll try and post chapter six soon for you all!**

**Anyways...**

**Thankyou to Carmen, Linda and Lydia for checking this before I posted!**

**And thankyou to everyone else who reviewed!**

**Please review, because reviews are good and happiful!**

**Little-Kity**


	6. The Dream

**Hello Everybody!**

**Yaaaaaaaaay for reviewers! Thankyou to Linding, Aidyl, HGDM lova, Emma, Fair Cruelty, MaJeStA and Angela for reviewing!**

**Ok ok ok. It's been two months. Blame me not the school! I mean... blame the school not me. Bleh. They expect too much of their students and think we're wonder kids. Anyways... here is chapter six, and I'm sorry. Hopefully chapter seven won't be too far away. :o)**

* * *

**The Dream**

* * *

_Daughter Verity, _

_Do not expect to come home for the Christmas holidays. Do not expect to come home for the Easter Holidays. _

_Do not expect to come home at all._

_I will no longer accept you in my house._

_At the end of the year you will graduate from Hogwarts. You may come back to the house to collect any belongings still remaining there. _

_You will then leave and you will not return. _

_Where you go from there, I do not know. I do not care._

_From this point on, I disown you._

_You are no longer my daughter. _

_Leanne._

Verity's stomach lurched as she read the letter in front of her. Lily reading over her shoulder, gasped.

Reeling with shock, Verity sank down onto her bed. The parchment slipped from her grasp; floating down to the thick carpet by her feet.

This was it. This was the end of it.

"Oh my God... Verity..." Lily whispered. "She can't be serious."

Verity couldn't even speak. With a soft groan, she buried her head in her hands, desperately trying to keep the tears at bay.

"What are you going to do?" Lily asked quietly.

Verity sat silently, staring at a spot on the wall. She shook her head. "I don't know." she croaked. "I... let me just... think." she mumbled. She wandered away from the bed to the window, looking out upon lake and the newly risen sun; glimmering gold fire just beyond the horizon.

Her vision blurred, hot tears leaking out of her eyes. Suddenly the shock was gone.

All she felt was a pure, white-hot anger.

She screamed and swung her arm across the window sill, bottles and photo frames scattering across the room. There was a fire inside of her, as if she was possessed and the demon was yearning for release.

Lily shank back in shock. "Verity?"

Verity turned to her wildly. "How could she do this!" she screamed. "How could she do this? I'm her daughter! She's meant to care for me! Love me! Believe me, for heaven's sake! It's as if she's thrown me out with the trash!" She kicked at her bed in fury. "I hate Patrick! I hate him!"

Then, as quickly as it had overtaken her, the anger left. She slumped on her bed.

Lily looked thoughtful. "Has your mother always been slightly insane, or is this just recent?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well..." Lily threw her hands up in the air. "Your mother seemed relatively normal until she met Patrick. Then all of a sudden, she's not believing anything you say and disowning you."

Verity shook her head. "I still don't know what you're coming to."

Lily sighed. "I was thinking... perhaps she's under the Imperious curse?" she shrugged.

Verity's heart thudded. Of course! The Imperious! Why did she not think of it before?

It would explain everything. Her mother's irrational behaviour. The sudden wedding. Her absolute stupidity.

"Of course!" she cried. "Oh, thankyou Lily!" she rushed forward and engulfed her friend with a hug. "I must see Professor McGonagall!"

Verity flew from the tower and sped towards her head teacher's office yet again.

Out of breath, she hammered on the door. There was a sigh. "Come in, Miss Chambers."

Verity came into the room. Professor McGonagall stared at her severely.

"I suppose you are here again over the matter of your mother and Mr Patrick Malus?" she inquired.

Verity nodded urgently. "She's under the Imperious!" she babbled. "It makes such perfect sense! I know she is! You see-"

McGonagall held up her hand and Verity fell silent.

"My dear Miss Chambers. You do not believe I did not already think of that?"

Verity's heart fell.

The Professor continued on. "After you left our last meeting with your mother, I asked Mr Malus and your mother to comply with a little test to see whether or not she was under the influence of the Imperious. She was not."

Verity's excitement died instantly. "But..." she swallowed, desperately searching for a reason."Maybe you did the test wrong?"

McGonagall raised her eyebrows. "No, Miss Chambers, I assure you the test was valid. Your mother is not under the Imperious Curse; nor any other kind of spell that I could tell."

So that was it.

"Oh… well… thankyou, Professor." she shuffled out of the office in despair. Her mother wasn't under the Imperious. She really did disown her. Tears slipped from her eyes onto the cold stone floor beneath her feet.

There was the sound of running and Lily came into view.

Her smile slipped when she saw the state Verity was in. "Good grief," she breathed. "What happened?"

She couldn't stand it anymore. She ran past Lily, up the corridor and around the corner. Then she was gone.

* * *

Several hours later, Lily was worried. Verity had just run off and couldn't be found. Lily had enlisted the help of Crystal and Lyla, but they hadn't returned with any news. Where could she have gone? 

Sighing, she slumped into the armchair by the fire in the common room. Oh well. Verity could look after herself. She just needed some time alone.

Crystal and Lyla appeared abruptly by Lily's chair.

"Oh um, Lily," Crystal murmured. "We asked around to see if anyone's seen Verity. Bethany Marian from Hufflepuff says she was sending a message to her mother when she saw Verity in tears hanging round the owlery."

Lyla nodded. "Apparently she's in a real mess. Do you think perhaps you should go?"

Lily bit at her lip. "I'm not sure."

"Maybe go... if she doesn't want help, then leave her be, but if she does, at least your there for her. But it's up to you. You know best; you're her best friend." Crystal got up and pulled back Lyla with her. The two departed quietly from the common room.

* * *

Verity sat underneath the tiny window in the owlery, her head bowed, her eyes closed. She barely even heard the footsteps echoing dimly from the stairwell, or noticed the red-headed girl who had sounded them. 

Lily moved closer, and Verity looked up. Upon seeing Lily, she lowered her head once more.

"If you want me to go, I'll go." Lily offered.

Verity shook her head.

Lily edged towards her and seated herself by her friend's side.

"I take it Leanne isn't under any spells?"

Verity nodded.

"Ah."

The two sat in silence for a while, just listening to the fluttering and hooting of the many owls above.

"I always come to the owlery when I feel sad." Verity breathed. "I discovered the owlery is a nice place to go when you're feeling alone. Hardly anyone comes up here. It's so quiet and peaceful."

"I see."

"Why would she do this to me?" Verity raked her fingers through her hair in despair. "I mean… she isn't… she doesn't... she's just not supposed to do this. She's my mother. She's left me all alone. I don't have anyone now."

Lily put an arm around Verity. "You have your Aunt Kate." she suggested. "And you have me. I've been your best friend ever since you knocked the lights out of Miranda in our first year when she called me a mudblood."

Verity smiled half-heartedly. "I didn't mean to. That was really an accident."

_Seven years beforehand… _

_"You think you're so smart, Evans! Just because you fluke a few good test scores you think you can tell me what to do?" An eleven-year old Miranda shouted at a minute Lily. _

_"Hey back off!" Verity cried, her arms full of books. "You're just jealous because you're a dimwit and she's a genius!" She shifted around, trying to get the books in a a good position so she wouldn't drop them. _

_"I'd rather be a dimwit than a mudblood like her!" Miranda snarled. _

_"Why you..." Verity started towards Miranda, but tripped on Lily's book bag. The books she carried flew out of her arms as she crashed to the floor. They sailed gracefully through the air and struck Miranda in the side of the head, who collapsed into the arms of her Ravenclaw friends. _

_"You killed her!" Allison Veene shrieked. _

And so had begun the never-ending war between Miranda Cerritus and Verity Chambers.

Lily snorted. "Accident or not, it was still funny."

Verity couldn't bring herself to laugh. She sighed and rested her head on her knees.

Lily patted Verity's back. "I'm sure your mum will reconsider. She's an intelligent woman."

"Not anymore." Verity moaned.

"I'll buy you a double chocolate ice cream with chocolate sauce, sprinkles and chocolate chips at our next Hogsmeade visit if she doesn't."

"I'm not going to the next Hogsmeade visit."

"Oh come on Verity, we need time to relax. The homework's been killing us and I've seen you study non-stop. Now with this added pressure, you have to come."

"I'll think about it." Verity muttered. "But don't expect me to go."

Lily sighed. "Don't worry. It'll probably work out for the best."

* * *

The next few weeks became extremely hectic for all the Seventh Year students. With the upcoming NEWTs, the workload soon started overloading everyone. 

Most students were walking a very fine line indeed between sanity and complete madness.

Crystal Shore was one of these. Emily Apylbie was too.

Verity came downstairs early one morning to find the two unconscious on the floor of the common room as they attempted to study all through the night. It didn't seem to have worked.

One of the paintings on the second floor wasn't helping either.

"Hahaha you pesterous students! You're all going to fail your NEWTs you know that?" slurred an Indian girl as she leant heavily on an elephant, the ground around her littered with the remains of many drinks. She shook her fist from the painting at the passers-by's.

Most were used to her by now: Anjali the drunken Indian girl who was accompanied by Emma the Elephant and Harriet and Hayley the Happy Monkeys. It was said they had once originated in a circus, but were cursed to live in a painting for the remainder of their lives by a witch.

Anjali often threw insults at a certain Lyla Sapientia for some unusual reason. As of habit, Lyla usually avoided that corridor in the second floor.

Rumours had it the painting was to be sold at the end of the year. Good riddance said Lyla.

With several exams, many essays to be written, and a stack of homework nearly as tall as Verity herself, she had little time to feel sorry for herself. For now, Leanne and the git called Patrick were at the back of her mind. It was as if they didn't even exist. The only thing that mattered now was her study.

She had plenty chance to try and reconcile with Leanne. But she only had one chance at her NEWTs. For now that was what mattered.

* * *

"Come on..." Lily coaxed, pulling on Verity's arm. "It's Hogsmeade... you have to come!" 

Verity shook her head as she attempted to write the remainder of her essay about Waldric the Wacked. He had attempted to transfigure himself into a walrus, but messed up and spent the rest of his life waddling around and eating fish.

"But you have to come!" Emily wailed. "It's the Hogmanay festival today! Hogmanay! Free Chocolate! Free!"

Lyla snorted. Emily stuck her tongue out at her. "You can't turn down free chocolate!" she cried at Verity.

Crystal lazed back on the plush chair by the portrait hole. "It's once a year Verity. This festival's only held on the last day of the year and only seventh years get to go."

Lyla frowned. "It's not the end of the year."

Emily rolled her eyes. "They hold it early every year because if they held it on the real last day, most kids would be at home for Christmas and not many would attend." she explained patiently.

Verity's chest tightened. Most kids would be at home for Christmas... most, not all. Like her. She shook her head more firmly. "No." she said.

Emily sighed loudly. "Well I'm not missing out of free chocolate for anything." With that, she left through the portrait hole.

Lily rubbed Verity's arm. "Ok, so you've been under a lot of pressure lately. The trouble with your mum. The homework. The NEWTs! But even better reason to get out and relax with the little time you actually have to do that."

Verity swallowed. Crystal, Lyla and Lily were all staring at her. "Fine," she muttered. "But I'm only going for you."

Lily cheered.

* * *

Verity wandered through the main street of Hogsmeade. Banners flapped all around the village. Honeydukes was crowded with a mass of chocolate-addicted children. Emily and Lily were somewhere in there, among the mass of shouting and eager students. Crystal and Lyla were with her as they waited for the two to return with some chocolate for the group to eat 

Letting out a breath, she flopped down on the wet ground. The weather was getting colder, and soon the snows would come. She looked around her at the tall trees, swaying gracefully in the wind and the cosy little buildings that lined the paved street.

She shivered. Crystal and Lyla were standing right next to her and there were people all around her, but suddenly she felt as if she was alone in the little street.

From the shadows of a nearby alley, someone watched.

Lily broke out from the crowd by Honeydukes, her arms filled with chocolates.

"Verity I got some!" she shouted.

She stumbled over to the sitting girl and let the chocolates fall into Verity's lap.

Emily then too, appeared from the store and also staggered to where the group was now sitting, eating hungrily, dropping the treats all over the ground.

They all ate happily in silence.

"Told ya it'd be good," Emily mumbled through a mouthful of chocolate, waving a half-eaten chocolate frog at Verity.

She stood up and stretched. "I'm going back to get more!" she announced. She turned to go back to the store and promptly cannoned into someone. She screamed as they fell to the ground.

"Why has that been happening lately?" Verity wondered aloud.

Emily untangled herself from James as Sirius laughed and pointed at them.

Verity got up and greeted Sirius. "Hi," her voice sounded flat. He looked at her strangely. She cleared her throat. "Oh um, I have a cold." she lied. She didn't feel like explaining her family troubles to Sirius at this moment.

The figure in the shadows beside Honeydukes stirred and drew his wand as the girl stood up.

"Oh yes, lots of people have been getting sick around this time of year," Sirius was saying. "Just before winter you know."

He grinned at a small kitten that had hopped down from a bin nearby and trotted towards them.

"Oh a cat!" Emily cried, jumping up and running past Verity, all thoughts of chocolate forgotten; her arms outstretched as she tried to hug the kitten that had wandered past.

What happened next was unclear.

There was a flash and a bang and a single scream.

The next thing, Emily was lying face down on the ground, unmoving. Crystal yelled out in fright, and Lyla ran to Emily to see if she was alright.

The flock of students by Honeydukes stopped and turned to see what had happened; staring at the scene curiously.

There was another flash of blinding light and then Lyla too, was collapsed next to Emily.

Suddenly the flock of chocolate hungry students by the candy store where no longer hungry. Shouts rang in alarm.

No longer curious, the wave of teenagers started screaming and yelling as they tore away from the store and began to run madly in all directions.

"What the...?" Sirius shouted. There was a roar and someone emerged from the shadows a few metres away.

He was hooded, a dark cloak concealing his face and body. He raised his wand and pointed it straight at Verity. "DIE!" he bellowed, slashing his wand through the air like a knife.

A jet of silver light flew from the wand at Verity. The spell blazed past her, searing her skin and robes. She fell heavily to the ground.

"We're all going to die!" Miranda's friend Allison shrieked as she bolted past, followed by a crowd of friends.

Swearing, Sirius ran off with them.

Lily was babbling in fear as she ran for Verity. "Verity are you alright?" she shrieked, trying to pull Verity to her feet.

The man came at them, his teeth bared under his hood. Lily was rooted to the ground in fear as he pointed his wand at her throat.

"Goodbye," he sneered.

Then without any warning, He was thrown off his feet as a boy tackled him to the ground.

"Get away Lily!" James roared as he struggled to keep the man pinned under him. "Get away!"

Lily stumbled to her feet, dragging Verity with her. Crystal ran to help her. "What about Emily and Lyla?" she gabbled wildly.

"Never mind them. They'll be alright. He's after Verity. Just get her out of here." Lily panted to her.

James cried out as the man struck him and threw him off. A wave of the wand and James instantly flew through the air and lay unmoving in the thinning snow.

Lily screamed. The man turned and stared at the three terrified girls, before coming at them again.

"I will finish this!" he bellowed.

Liam Clemens abruptly appeared from nowhere, bringing down a heavy bin lid onto the back of the man's head.

He grunted and staggered forward, his arms flailing. Then he was swinging around, wrestling the lid from Liam and smashing it violently against the boy's head.

The face under the hood grinned madly as Liam dropped to the ground.

Shouts and bangs echoed from up the street as several Professors from the school appeared, alerted by the panicked students who had previously fled the scene.

The man swore. His eyes connected with Lily's.

"Let her know she will never escape me. She... and her mother." he growled. He twisted and disappeared as Crystal and Lily looked on in horror.

Professor McGonagall appeared by her side an instant later, out of breath. "What's been going on here?" she spluttered.

* * *

Verity sat shivering, covered in a blanket in the Hospital Wing. Lily sat forlorn by her side as Madam Pomfrey attended to the many casualties of the hooded man. Crystal sat facing them in silence. 

Lyla, Emily, James and Liam lay in beds along the wall.

James and Liam were going to be fine according to Madam Pomfrey. James had only been hit with a simple spell and Liam only had a mild concussion.

Lyla and Emily, however, were another matter.

Professor McGonagall paced up and down the room.

"So tell me again girls: what happened?"

Crystal fidgeted awkwardly. "Well... as we told you before, we were sitting in the street eating chocolates from the giveaway at Honeydukes. Then James and Sirius came along... and then Emily saw this kitten and tried to pat it."

"Then like there was this huge bang and this light and Emily was... unconscious." Lily broke in. "Then it happened to Lyla and everyone was running around and screaming."

McGonagall sighed. "But can you describe to me what the light looked like?"

Lily paused. "Bright?"

"And it was silver. I think it was the same one that almost got Verity." Crystal put in.

"Yes well we still don't know what happened to her, but that she was very lucky indeed." Pomfrey commented as she wrung a piece of cloth over the sink.

"And did you see anything of the man that might help the Aurors on their search?" The Professor asked.

"No... not really. He... he told us to tell Verity that..." Lily frowned.

Crystal started. "I remember what he said. He said 'Let her know that she will never escape me... and her mother too,' or something along those lines."

"It's Patrick." Verity said immediately. She was pale. "He tried to kill me and now he's going to kill mum."

"It can't have been Patrick, my dear. He was with your mother today; I contacted her to let you know that you had been hurt."

"Like she'd care..." Verity muttered. "He's involved in this I know he is. She's probably covering for him now."

"Miss Chambers!" McGonagall looked severe. "Enough of this. You are to stay in the hospital wing for Madam Pomfrey to monitor your condition. Miss Evans, Miss Shore, you may now attend dinner. If you wish, you may see Miss Chambers again tomorrow morning."

Lily stood up and grasped Verity's hand. "Everything will be okay," she murmured.

She and Crystal exited the room, with Verity noticing Lily glancing worriedly at James's bed as she passed.

"Now off to bed," Pomfrey fussed.

Sighing, Verity slid beneath the covers of the bed. Madam Pomfrey waved her wand and the light dimmed, leaving Verity in darkness.

Drowsily she rolled over as sleep came to her.

_She was in her room. _

_Normally inviting and cheery, it seemed unusually dark. _

_All the posters of her wizarding idols had been ripped down, and she found all her possessions had been taken and stuffed into a trunk lying on the bed. _

_She heard a creak outside, and crept out into the hallway. _

_"Who's there?" she hissed, her call small and distant. _

_'Don't be silly...' A voice whispered to her. 'This is just a dream...'_

_A figure stood by the top of the stairs, staring out the window by them. _

_She recognised her. It was her mother. What was going on here?_

_Someone else appeared behind her mother. He was creeping slowly and quietly. _

_Oh no. Patrick. _

_Silently, he grasped a vase and lifted it high above his head._

_She tried to cry out or warn the woman somehow, but it was too late. _

_The vase smashed against Leanne's temple. _

_With a cry she fell forward, crashing down the staircase._

_She came to a rest at the bottom, still and motionless. _

_She was dead. _

* * *

**Author's Note:**

**Thankyou to Carmen for giving me essential ideas on this chapter! You should really start on your own fanfiction sometime soon...**

**Also the usual thankyou to Lydia and Carmen and Emma for checking this chapter before I posted. You lot are the bestest! Yay!**

**And thankyou to Carmen and Alisa for helping me shamelessly advertise my stories! Lol. **

**Oh and, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE review! Reviews are the best!**

**Reviews make me happy and give me a high which aids in my typing up new chapters. :o)**

**So therefore... more reviews more chapters! Yay!**

**Thankyou to everybody!**

**Little Kity**


	7. Warnings

**Thankyou to Emma, Chris, HGDM lova, anonymous (lol I know who you are), w3ndi, angela, Lauren: e m m a , hpfan142, Aidyl, Linding and Alateriel567 for reviewing!**

**YAY! I REACHED THE FIFTY REVIEW MARK! THANKYOU TO EVERYBODY! **

**And yes I realise I'm crappy at updating. I'm sorry! **

**To make up for long wait, I've made an extra long chapter. Woot!**

* * *

**Warnings**

* * *

Screams pierced the cool night air, echoing down the corridors of the first floor of Hogwarts. 

Verity writhed under her covers, thrashing wildly, trying to get free.

With a cry, the covers ripped and shred as Verity slashed through them, freeing herself.

Still screaming, but upon her feet, she stumbled blindly around in the dark, feeling for the huge double doors that led out of the suffocating hospital wing.

Suddenly hands grasped around her and started hauling her back. With shrieks and wails she lashed out at the restraining figure.

With a shock, James and Liam were awake immediately; staring wide-eyed at the scene.

"Miss Chambers, Miss Chambers!" Madam Pomfrey shouted above the roar. "Please, it was just a dream! You had a bad dream!" She struggled madly to try and calm to panicked girl.

But Verity would not be calmed.

"Patrick killed her! Patrick killed my mother! Patrick did it Patrick did it!" she howled.

She tore free from the nurse and bolted for the doors, slamming brutally into the hard wood as they refused to open for her.

Bawling, she pounded on the door frantically trying to find a way out.

Madam Pomfrey whipped out her wand, pointing it at the terrified girl. "I'm sorry, my dear." she said in a low voice.

A wisp of dim light spun out from the tip, surrounding Verity.

A sudden peace filled her. With a sigh she slid down the wall and lay unconscious on the tiled floor.

* * *

Low, mumbling voices. A splitting pain in her head. What was going on? 

"Oh, it was quite alarming of course, but luckily she wasn't harmed badly. I sent Mr Potter and Clemens down to breakfast this morning, they have recovered quite well..." she could hear someone talking in a low voice.

Verity stirred slowly, her blurred vision revealing Madam Pomfrey talking with who appeared to be Professor McGonagall.

Well not quite. "Ah, Miss Chambers you are at last awake. This is Professor Dumbledore."

Verity tried to speak but found she couldn't.

"I'm sorry headmaster, but I had to sedate Miss Chambers last night and she is still under the weather."

"Of course," Dumbledore smiled and gave a little bow. "Perhaps then while your patient recovers, I shall gain the happenings of last night from you, Poppy."

"Well Miss Chambers and several others as you already know were attacked at the Hogsmeade visit yesterday. They were brought here. Around midnight last night, I was awoken by some screams and found Miss Chambers here clawing at her bed as if she was being attacked. It was obviously a bad dream. She tried to escape the hospital wing and I had to sedate her."

The girl struggled to rise. "Oh, no. You aren't to leave this wing until I'm completely satisfied that you're healthy." exclaimed Madam Pomfrey.

Verity shook her head, speechless. The woman raised an eyebrow at her.

Choking on the words, she spat it out painfully. "Mother. Dead. Patrick - kill!" she gasped from the effort and sank back onto the pillows.

She was exhausted. But she had to get out. Find Patrick and her mother. See if indeed the dream was true. Oh it was so real, but she wished with all her heart that it wasn't.

"Miss Chambers, is this the latest assassination scheme you believe your step-father is plotting against you?" Professor McGonagall asked dryly as she entered the room.

She took a deep breath, trying to form the words. "I had... a dream." she stoped as her throat closed off again. Forcing the words out she began again. "I was in my house. My mother was there. Patrick killed her. He killed her. I have to find her and see if she's okay." She moaned as pain seared through her head.

McGonagall sighed. "Oh Miss Chambers do you really believe –"

"Of course." Dumbledore stepped forwards, twiddling his thumbs. "You can see clearly, Minerva, that this girl is terrified for her mother's safety."

McGonagall stared at him.

"I ask you to write a short letter to her mother, asking her to come up to the school. Make sure she is safe and well and bring her to see her daughter."

"My dear Headmaster, it was just simply a dream. Unless if this girl is some sort of psychic, I doubt there is any truth to it."

"She always excelled in Divination..." someone slurred.

Madam Pomfrey's head shot up. She hurried over to Lyla's bed and felt the girl's forehead. "She's awake!" Then she became serious. "Professor McGonagall, Headmaster, you may do what you wish. These two students were hit by a very powerful spell and I do not know as yet what it was. I am currently consulting Professor Flitwick about various possible charms. But I must ask you now to leave."

Verity looked alarmed. "Please, Sir, I need to know if my mother is alive."

"I shall see to it as soon as I can," Professor Dumbledore nodded.

With a small sob, Verity slunk under the soft sheets of her bed, her head pounding.

Madam Pomfrey was frantically fussing over Lyla's awakening.

"Open your mouth. Show me your hands. How many fingers am I holding up? Does your head hurt? Count for me backwards from ten." she ordered.

Verity lay still, listening to Lyla hesitantly recount the number system. Now that she was fully awake, she was thinking more clearly. Maybe it WAS just a dream. But it had seemed so real!

"Now how do you feel?" she heard the nurse ask.

"Sore," came the reply.

"Well yes of course you're sore," Pomfrey snapped. "But I need you to tell me something important - when you were hit, did you see anyone?"

"See anyone? Well... I was surrounded by people... so I suppose - "

"No not that kind of see. I mean as in... when the spell hit you, did an image flash in your mind?"

Lyla looked confused, then a frown appeared on her face. "Actually yes," she said slowly. "I saw Verity and I felt... angry? Then I can't remember anything."

Verity uncovered her face and stared at Lyla curiously. But Madam Pomfrey sighed and rocked back on her heels. "So that's it," she muttered. "The Iracundi curse..."

"The what?" Verity and Lyla asked simultaneously.

The matron cleared her throat. "The Iracundi curse is a very old spell; it's very powerful too and can kill instantly."

Lyla looked terrified. Pomfrey gave a short laugh and continued on. "But it can only kill if the right person is hit. So the attacker would have to imagine his target clearly and then cast the spell at the victim, in this case, Miss Chambers."

Verity said, uncertainly, "So he WAS after me?"

"It appears so. If he had have hit you fully, you could be dead now, I'm afraid. But instead, Miss Apylbie and Miss Sapientia were hit."

"Why isn't Emily awake?" Verity voiced suddenly.

"I AM awake..." Lyla yawned.

"No not you, I meant her," Verity pointed to Emily's bed.

Madam Pomfrey frowned. "Well she was hit first, which means she faced the more dangerous side of the spell. It takes quite a lot of power out of the one who casts it, see."

"Oh. Will she be alright?"

Pomfrey nodded. "Now you must rest. It may not have killed you, but there are some other... side effects... the spell may have caused. We must keep you here for observation."

But Verity wasn't listening anymore. The pain in her head was subsiding and her mind had become clearer. Someone was trying to kill her. That, at least was definite.

It had to be Patrick. But no, he wasn't there. Maybe Patrick sent someone to kill her off.

But why? What possible reason had Patrick to harm her? Maybe he was just a psychopath. Or could it be something deeper?

There was a knock at the door. The Matron clicked her tongue crossly and checked to see who there. Looking in puzzlement from side to side, she saw no-one. Then a small bundle of brightly coloured flowers caught her eye. Picking them up, she hurriedly read the small note and with an exasperated sigh, strode to Verity's bed and dropped them softly on the bed cover.

"It seems they are for you," she turned to attend back to Lyla. "Open your mouth," she commanded. Then with a frown, she fumbled through her pockets.

"Where's my thermometer?" she asked herself. Muttering quietly, she walked out of the room into the hallway, looking to see if she had dropped it.

Verity picked up the flowers. Tulips. How sweet. She looked for a card, but there seemed to be none. She frowned in disappointment.

With a gasp, she watched as the flowers changed colours softly, then morphed into a small box of chocolates.

Honeydukes chocolates, she noticed. Expensive ones too.

She lifted the lid and saw a small, lavender coloured (and scented, she realised as well) note. The writing shone and sparkled lightly as she scanned the paper.

_"Dear Verity,_

_I'm glad you're better now. _

_Here are some chocolates I had bought earlier yesterday for you, but then never got the chance. _

_I hope you like them."_

It was unsigned.

She wondered who might have sent them. Deciding to follow Emily's philosophy, she took out one piece and put it into her mouth.

It was wonderful. Soft and sweet, she started to feel much better as the chocolate work it's happy-making magic.

Emily loved chocolate. Verity hoped that she would wake up in time to have a piece from the box.

The crinkle of the wrapper made Lyla's head snap towards Verity. "_Chocolate!_" she cried.

Madam Pomfrey's voice floated from the corridor. "No chocolate just yet, Miss Sapientia." she called. "You are to have no food for the time being."

Verity laughed. "Since when did you like chocolate?" Lyla wasn't one to be known for any noticeable chocolate addiction.

"Since forever!" Lyla giggled.

Giggle? Lyla didn't giggle often. How odd.

"Well, I'll give you one when Madam Pomfrey says you can have one. Ok, Lyla?"

She looked puzzled. "Lyla? I'm not Lyla, I'm Emily."

Verity stared at her. "Emily? You're not Emily, you're Lyla Sapientia."

Lyla looked at her as if she was insane. "Verity, I know who I am. Maybe that spell _did_ hit you after all, eh? Now gimme that chocolate." she held out her hand.

Now this was getting weird, Verity thought. "Madam Pomfrey?" she called out. "I think you need to come back!"

But there was no Matron.

"Well if you think you're Emily Apylbie, then who's that?" she pointed to the real Emily, lying peacefully on the bed, purring.

Wait... _purring!_

She watched as Emily shifted in her sleep and curled into a ball with a small meow.

"Madam Pomfrey!" Verity shouted. Maybe these were the strange side effects she had mentioned earlier...

Emily looked up sleepily. She hissed at Verity. "Don't wake me when I sleep!" she snarled, before settling back into her cat-like position.

What on earth was going on?

Ignoring Emily's warning, she rushed out of bed and shook her forcefully. The girl yowled and swiped at her.

"Emily! Stop it!"

Emily, or whoever (or whatever) she thought she was, hissed again and clawed at Verity's dress. "No wake!" she wauled. "I sleep!"

"Tell me who you think you are!" Verity demanded.

Emily blinked lazily. "I'm Bubbles!" she said, as she stretched and yawned.

Verity looked on with horror. Bubbles?

Then as she began to purr, she rubbed her cheek against Verity's hand. "You woke me up from my nice nap, but you seem nice enough," she sighed sleepily.

"Bubbles?" Lyla (who still seemed to be thinking she was Emily) seemed to be thinking the same thing. "What are you, a cat?" she said incredulously.

Emily stared at her. "Well of course," she scoffed. "What else would I be?"

That was it. Verity jogged out of the hospital wing. Where was Madam Pomfrey? She couldn't have just disappeared.

"Madam Pomfrey!" she cried. "We need your help!"

"Miss Chambers?"

With a shriek, she turned around to find the matron right behind her. "I'm sorry dear but I ran into Professor Flitwick in the hallway and..."

Verity cut her off. "Lyla thinks she's Emily and Emily thinks she's a cat!" she babbled.

Madam Pomfrey raised an eyebrow at her.

Suddenly there was a crash from inside the infirmary, which was followed by a yowl and someone screaming: "She's insane!"

They hurried back inside.

Emily (or Bubbles) was racing around the room on her hands and knees, vainly trying to capture a small mouse which had ventured in. Lyla (or Emily) was standing on her bed shrieking and clutching a pillow.

"She's insane!" Lyla (or Emily) shrilled again. "She must think she's a cat or something but she's gone mad!" she pointed wildly at Emily (or Bubbles).

Madam Pomfrey rushed over to the girl, who was clawing at a small hole in the wall where the mouse had gained entrance. Grabbing her firmly but gently, she led her back to her bed and lay her down.

"Good girl... or kitty..." she seemed confused as to which she should call her.

Verity stood awkwardly, staring at the scene. Broken bottles of potion smashed and dripping lay on shelves and created a slippery mess on the floor. Papers lay everywhere. Fragments of pillow and the feathery insides floated through the air, catching themselves in her hair.

There was a knock at the door and a girl with flaming hair entered.

Lily gazed, bewildered, at the state of the hospital wing. "Well this is new..." she commented idly. "Did you decide to redecorate?"

Madam Pomfrey glared at her. "No, Miss Evans, it was not I, but Miss Apylbie who created this mess."

"I didn't do anything!" Lyla protested. "It was her!" she pointed a quivering finger at Emily, who had since fallen asleep and was purring contentedly.

Madam Pomfrey sighed. "Well it seems to me," she came towards Verity and felt her forehead, "that you are of full health. You may go now, but if you feel unusual in any way, you are to come straight back here. I am keeping these two here to try and sort this out. Now go!" she pushed the chocolate tin into Verity's hands and bustled the two out of the hospital wing. She shut the doors firmly behind them.

Lily looked at Verity who shook her head. "Fine then... I won't ask what that was. But at least you're normal now."

"Normal?" she retorted. "Nothing is normal now."

* * *

Sitting quietly in History of Magic while a ghost rambles on about obscure topics and an evil minded blonde is yet again throwing things at you is not an easy task. 

Professor Binns, completely oblivious of anything but his speech of the Battle of the Cobwabbles and the Pinglays (species of pixie which had wiped each other out in a war of who thought they had the rights to a particular forest somewhere in Scandinavia), took no notice as Miranda took the opportunity to send many objects flying across the room at Verity.

She spun around in her seat. "Rack off!" she mouthed, drawing a finger across her throat threateningly.

"Why should I?" Miranda mouthed back.

"You're just being childish now!"

"Bitch!"

"Stop it!" Liam hissed from across the room. "Binns'll go off at you!"

Miranda scoffed. "Binns's discipline skills are as bad as his teaching. Mind your own business, freak!"

"Don't call him a freak!" Verity rose up from her seat, a ruler clutched in her hand.

"Why? Is he your boooooyfriend?"

"What, jealous?"

She didn't know why she said it. She supposed it just sounded witty at the time.

"What's that meant to mean?" Sirius stood up, staring at Verity.

"I dunno..." she shrugged.

"I thought you liked me!"

"Well, I do," she spluttered.

"Oh." Liam said quietly; turning red. Nobody heard him, considering they were too focused on Verity and Sirius's spat.

"Well evidently you consider Liam your boyfriend, rather than me, so then that must mean you don't like me!"

"What are you, a six year old boy?" Verity said angrily. "If you're going to act like this every time I attempt to fend off Miss "I'm-blonde-and-I-love-it"'s constant attacks, then I probably won't!"

With a growl, Sirius swept all his books into his bag and stalked out of the classroom, sending the door shut with a bang.

Miranda smirked. "Somebody's not happy..."

Lily tugged at Verity's robes. "Sit down before you make any more of a fool of yourself!" she whispered hastily.

There was a knock at the door and Professor McGonagall appeared, looking quite hurried.

"Miss Chambers, I would like to have a quick word with you,"

There was a chorus of low "Ooooh"s rumbling from the class as Verity stood and walked quietly from the classroom.

"Immature idiots," Verity heard Lily mutter.

So this was the moment she had been waiting for. Dread settled in her churning stomach as she awaited the teacher to speak.

'Miss Chambers, your mother is perfectly healthy. No spells, no nothing. She's been here for nearly an hour already."

Relief washed over her. So the dream wasn't true after all.

"Is she here?" she asked eagerly.

"No, I'm afraid she wasn't very enthusiastic to see you," McGonagall sighed. "She and her husband."

The bell ringing just above them, shrill and loud, startled them.

"Your mother just left my office," she commented mildly, before turning and leaving before the wave of students rushing from the classroom.

Just left...

She bolted into the classroom, cannoning into several students.

"Lily! Take my bag for me please, I have to go really quickly!" she gasped.

Sure, her mother hated her, but she had to see her.

Without waiting for a reply, she took off from the classroom, pelting through the corridors, dodging students along the way.

Skidding into the entrance hall, she caught sight of a furred coat at the doors.

"Mum!" she shouted, running forwards and catching hold of the hideous overcoat.

The woman turned, raising an eyebrow at her. "Do I know you?" she asked coolly.

"Get away from us!" Patrick hissed. "We are leaving now and we do not need you to hinder us!"

"Mummy, please," Verity begged. "Just talk to me for a minute."

"Get away!" Patrick viciously tore her from the woman; off balanced, Verity staggered and fell.

With that, Patrick ushered Leanne from the hall and slammed the door heavily behind him.

Painfully she struggled up and hopped to the doors, opening them to see the two running across the grounds and out of sight.

"Didn't work as well as you hoped?" Lily held out Verity's book bag. "Don't worry I'm sure she'll come to her senses soon enough..."

She desperately hoped that was true.

* * *

The weeks following were very strange. 

There was the tense air surrounding everybody which could be thanked to the upcoming NEWTs. Every last minute was dedicated to studying.

Then there were the strange circumstances surrounding Emily and Lyla's side effects. Nothing Madam Pomfrey did could remove the spell, and so Emily continued with the mentality of a cat, and Lyla the very weird and unusual chocolate-and-cat-obsessed mentality of Emily. Rumours had it to two were to be sent to St Mungo's if their conditions didn't improve.

Not to mention both Sirius and Liam were avoiding Verity at all costs.

Although the flowers were continuing. Every Monday morning at breakfast, a small bunch of brightly coloured tulips would arrive with one of the school's barn owls.

"Well obviously they're from someone who hasn't got very much money." Lily guessed one day.

"What makes you think that?" Crystal asked, holding the flowers gingerly and searching for any note at all.

"There's no note. But I think that, because if he had money, he would have his own owl, rather than borrowing one of the school's." Lily leant back in her seat. "You're looking at the new Sherlock Holmes."

"You don't look very much like a man..." Crystal laughed.

Lily swiped at Crystal, knocking the omelette from her plate.

Verity giggled. "Well Sherlock, I don't think that quite works out. He might be using a school owl so I don't guess as to his identity."

Lily scoffed and leant over to get Crystal a new plate of omelette. "Well, I do know he's pretty keen on you. Do you think he's the same person who sent you the chocolates while you were in the hospital wing?"

Verity shrugged.

She scanned the hall for any possibilities.

Sirius? No he was mad at her. Git. It was hardly her fault.

Liam? Probably not. He'd been avoiding her all month.

Snape was staring at her. Gosh, she hoped it wasn't him. That's all she'd need. She shuddered slightly and went back to her cereal.

"Well, I'm off to visit Lyla and Emily before Care of Magical Creatures starts. Anybody going to come?" Crystal yawned briefly and swung her bag onto her shoulder.

"Sorry can't," Lily said. "I have Charms; it starts slightly before Magical Creatures... I won't have the time."

"I will," Verity volunteered, standing up. "I have Magical Creatures with you."

"Goodio. Now hurry up," Crystal commanded, hauling Verity along with her.

They arrived at the hospital wing to find a very irritated Madam Pomfrey.

"No you cannot see your friends!" she said snappily. "Miss Apylbie's condition is hardly improving. If she hasn't improved at all within two weeks, I will be forced to send her to St Mungo's."

Crystal looked horrified. "But what about her NEWTs?"

The nurse shrugged. "Health is more important than school."

"You say Emily isn't improving..." Verity mentioned. "So how about Lyla?"

"Miss Sapientia is gradually getting better... although slightly confused as to her identity."

"Will she have to go to St Mungo's at all?"

Madam Pomfrey shook her head firmly. "Since Miss Sapientia faced the milder side to the spell, I believe she will recover quite well. But Miss Apylbie... well I'm not sure if she will recover fully."

Crystal stared at her open-mouthed. "Like, ever?"

Madam Pomfrey raised her hands into the air. "Who knows? But I do know, if she doesn't start acting like herself soon, rather than this "Bubbles", she will have to start serious treatment at St Mungo's."

Crystal gave a sharp exclamation. "Can't we see her? Please?" she pleaded.

"Absolutely not." Madam Pomfrey said firmly. "Now out." She pointed to the door.

Disgruntled, Verity and Crystal left the hospital wing and started on the way to their next class.

"I hope Emily's ok." Crystal murmured.

"Don't worry she'll be fine," Verity said with more confidence than she felt.

Her gaze wandered out the first floor windows onto the outside grounds where some early students were already waiting for their Care of Magical Creatures lesson.

A slight feeling of unease crossed her.

"Are you alright?" Crystal glanced out the window too. "Come on, we're already late." she said, pulling Verity along the corridor.

* * *

"Now girls and boys, you are about to see an incredibly endangered species of magical creature," Professor Kettleburn announced. 

"These animals are very rare, and quite unique. They are classed by the The Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures as a 4, but they are hardly dangerous. This is due to their rarity."

He paused. "You are not permitted to touch it. You may not shout, or make any loud noises. Hogwarts was incredibly lucky indeed to gain permission from the Ministry of Magic to show you this.

There are severe penalties for harming, capturing or owning them."

"Then why do you have one?" Karina Russell, a fellow Griffindor, said slowly.

"Because we sought permission from the Ministry of Magic. And, after today it is being released back to its natural home. But back to where we were –"

The students looked up expectantly.

"I give you... the Snidget." He waved his wand and a silken covering was swept off a large cage to their left.

It was a magnificent round, golden bird, with shining red eyes. Compared to the cage though, it was quite small.

"Aww..." Crystal whispered. "It's so cute!"

"This bird is endangered, which was mainly due to its being hunted. It was also used in Quidditch, but was soon replaced by the Golden Snitch that we use today." the Professor resumed.

He raised an eyebrow. "I think this is something you may need to write down."

Verity fumbled through her book bag for her book and quill and started to note down what the Professor had just said.

"Professor," Karina raised her hand. "Did you say they were a class 4 creature?"

Kettleburn nodded. "Not due to any danger, just for the rarity. If they were not rare, they would probably be a class 1."

Something moved suddenly near her. Looking up, she scanned the nearby trees for anyone.

"Crystal," Verity hissed. "I think someone's watching us."

Crystal looked up. "Where? I can't see anyone."

"Now, you may get up slowly and approach the cage. But if you place your fingers, or anything else through the bars of the cage, I will sever them without hesitation." Kettleburn said sharply.

Verity walked around to the back of the cage. The Snidget cocked its head and stared at her.

"Snidgets are extremely agile creatures." the Professor said. "Cerritus, do you really want to lose as many fingers as I?" he sighed, waving a pinkie-less hand at Miranda, who drew back from the cage immediately.

"Now, I shall feed the Snidget." Kettleburn announced. He turned and sorted through a small wooden box located next to the cage. "And no, you may not have a turn at feeding it."

Crystal looked disappointed.

But Verity couldn't shake the uneasy feeling that she was being watched.

"I'm sorry, but I can't find the food. Snidgets love to eat ripe fruit and vegetables, but unfortunately, someone has replaced this with rotten cabbage." He made a disgusted face. "Someone's idea of a joke I suppose... I shall be right back students; I might go and ask Hagrid if he has any vegetables from his garden patch to spare."

He started to walk off, then stopped. "Actually..." he waved his wand and a shimmering barrier appeared over the cage. "Just in case any of you get any ideas... that barrier is very strong. I advise you do not touch it." He disappeared behind the small cabin the gamekeeper lived in.

With the Professor gone, Verity felt even more insecure.

"Look, Verity, I'm sure there's no-one about." Crystal said in a low voice. "And he wouldn't - " she swallowed a muffled screech as she stared over Verity's shoulder.

Verity spun around. At the edge of the trees bordering the Forbidden Forest, a tall man stood, shadowed by a dark cloak.

He pointed at her and drew a long finger across his throat.

She screamed, abandoning any bravery, and bolted away from the trees, past the students.

She stumbled and tripped as a leg stretched out across her path. Falling, she crashed into the barrier surrounding the cage.

There was a spark and a flash and Verity was sent flying through the air, colliding painfully with Miranda, whose leg still was stretched out.

"What's going on?" Professor Kettleburn shouted as he burst out of the cabin, hearing the noise.

Crystal pointed wildly at the trees. "There was a man!" she yelled.

Verity lay, dazed, on the ground, next to Miranda.

Crystal bent to help Verity as Miranda's friend, Allison, did the same for her.

Kettleburn was furious. "I told you specifically NOT to touch the Snidget!" he roared.

"She didn't!" Crystal cried, to Verity defence. "Miranda tripped Verity and made her fall into the barrier!"

Professor Kettleburn glared at Miranda.

"I - I - I didn't do it purposely! I was trying to tie my shoe!" she stuttered lamely.

"You were trying to tie a shoe that has no laces?" Kettleburn questioned darkly, his eyes flicking over her slip-on shoes.

"Oh..." Miranda realised too late, her mistake.

"Five points from Ravenclaw for your foolishness. You do not realise how your actions could have affected this Snidget, Miss Cerritus." he barked at Miranda.

Then he sighed. "I'm afraid I'm going to have to take it away now and return it before other harm comes to it. Class dismissed." he removed the barrier and replaced the silken cover, before applying the barrier again. "What a waste of a lesson..." he muttered under his breath.

"Are you alright?" Crystal said to Verity.

"Yeah..." she raised her hand to her forehead.

"Quick, we'll get back into the castle before that creep returns again," Crystal gathered Verity's quill and book and stuffed them back into her book bag for her.

* * *

Far away, back in London, Kate Chambers returned to her home from a nice day of shopping. Pulling up in her driveway, she exited the car and started to pull her shopping bags out of the boot. 

A man walked casually up the driveway. "Hello Miss, would you like me to help you with those bags?"

Kate looked warily at him. "Oh no thankyou, I'm perfectly fine."

The man's eyes narrowed. "Oh no, let me help you."

"No thankyou." she said firmly. "I am perfectly capable of bringing these bags into my house on my own."

The man's hand plunged into his jacket pocket and drew out a wand. "Take me into your house now or I will kill you," he growled.

Kate hesitated. She could do as he asked, and probably be killed as soon as she went inside, or run for it.

Making a decision, she threw the bags into the air, knocking them into the man's head. Shouting loudly, she ran from him down the street.

"Attack! Help me!" she shrieked, urgently hoping any of the muggles living in the street would hear and come to her aid. But it was the middle of the day. Many of the muggles would be at work now.

There was an explosion of light from behind her, and she tripped head over heels along the pavement, grazing her arms along the ground.

Feeling for her wand, she whipped it out and shouted the first spell that came to mind.

"Incendio!" she cried.

The man screamed as his clothes burst into flames around him.

Not a moment to lose, Kate scrambled to her feet and pounded down the street.

In pain, the man struggled after her. "Iracundi!" he gasped. A jet of silver light shot from his wand and struck Kate in the back.

With a cry she fell to the ground, motionless.

The man bellowed in triumph, but staggered towards her to check she was finished off.

But suddenly there was a shout from one of the nearby houses. Out of it came running a woman dressed in a small pink apron.

"Oh Katherine!" she cried.

The man blundered back into some hedges, unseen.

"Oh George, George! I think she's had a heart attack! Ring the ambulance! George!"

A short man ran out of the house and joined the panicked woman.

"Oh George, don't come out, just ring the ambulance!" she bawled.

The man retreated and dashed back into the white house while the woman rolled Kate over and put her ear to her chest.

"Oh, oh, George -_ I think she's dead!"_

The man in the hedges smiled through the burning pain and vanished. His work here was done.

* * *

**Author's Note:**

**As per usual: Thankyou to Carmen Good luck overseas, Lydia, Kendall and Linda for checking this before I posted! **

**PLEASE review! (falls on knees) I thrive on reviews! **

**And the very sad thing is, out of the twelve reviews I got for my last chapter, I've realised only about one or two were off people I didn't know. :o(**

**So: If more unbeknownst people to me review, I shall update quick. If I get no reviews then no more chapter for you! Bwahahahahahahaha! (evil but weird laugh)**

**Lol but then I'll probably give in and update anyways... but PLEASE review!**

**I'll send my invisible friend along to thank you and give you an invisible cookie:o)**

**Little Kity**

**P.S. About the: Miss "I'm-blonde-and-I-love-it" - No offence to blondes. Blondes are just as intelligent, attractive etc. as other different coloured hair people. Although I am not a blonde myself, I am staging no attack upon blondes. So don't post weird reviews saying I'm discriminative against blondes. Coz I'm not...I don't think.**

**P.P.S. To the Sirius lovers: Sorry for calling Sirius a git. Well he strikes me as the gittish-type, at least in school. Anyone remember the dangling upside-down incident from book 5? Ok well it WAS Snape I suppose... but meh. Same as above: No posting of reviews saying I'm discriminative against Sirius. (Pokes out tongue)**


	8. Mistaken Identities

**Thanks to ****Aidyl****, Linding, Ano, Kendall, Emma, ****kyasarinyume07****, Seb, HGDM lova, anonymous (hahahaha and yes, I will expand your role), and hpfan142 for reviewing!**

**Also: I'm sorry! I haven't updated in _aggggeeeessss…._ But I haven't forgotten about you! I was planning to do Chapter 8 over the holidays, but the evil school gave us AN ASSIGNMENT. Over CHRISTMAS. (throws marshmallows at school)**

**But I did try to update anyhows. It's just I kept deleting the file, coz it didn't seem right. But here's a copy that finally IS right (I think) so please don't come after me with the pitchforks!**

* * *

**Shocks**

* * *

_"Welcome to the second exciting game of Quidditch this year!"_ a voice boomed as Verity and Lily climbed the stairs into the Quidditch stands. _"Ravenclaw versus Gryffindor! It's sure to be a riveting match indeed!"_

"Lily, I don't want to be here." Verity said quietly as they sat on the stiff wooden benches overlooking the Quidditch pitch.

"What ever happened to team spirit? Gryffindor is playing today." Lily swept her hair back and secured it with a pin. "You can at least watch ONE Quidditch match." She nodded hello to Liam and Crystal who were sitting on the benches behind them.

"Lily, do you even remember what I told you? The man was here. In the forest. He's stalking me." She rolled her head back and stared at the sky. "I think it's going to rain. Maybe we should go back to the castle."

Lily turned and glared at her. "He's not going to kill you in front of the entire school."

"He tried it once. Remember Hogsmeade?"

"This time there are teachers," Lily gestured to one of the stands, in which Professor McGonagall, Professor Kettleburn and others were seated. "Don't be so paranoid."

"Well you would be too in my situation."

They peered over the stands as a line of tiny red people, walked out onto the pitch, brooms slung over their shoulders.

_"On the Gryffindor team: Seeker - Mark Remington, Keeper - Heather Llewellyn, Beaters - Margaret Hadfield and Karina Russell, Chasers - Jack Benson, James Potter and Lacey Greene."_

The little red people were then followed by a line of more tiny people, only this time blue.

_"And on the Ravenclaw team: Seeker - Allison Veene, Keeper - Elliot Jackson, Beaters - Miranda Cerritus and Danny York, Chasers - Samara Parks, Ryan Wellings and Peter York."_

They arranged themselves into a neat circle while the captains, Mark Remington from Gryffindor, and Elliot Jackson from Ravenclaw, shook hands. A whistle blew and suddenly the little people became larger as their soared through the air in different directions.

_"Oooh, and Greene's got the Quaffle, avoids a nasty collision with the bludger hit by Cerritus..." _

Miranda, her hair blowing in all directions, whizzed after the bludger, her bat held above her head as she attempted to hit the Gryffindor chaser, Lacey Greene.

_"And Greene passes the Quaffle to Potter, who is flying steadily for the goalposts..."_

Miranda caught up to the bludger and bashed the black sphere at James. Thinking quickly he threw the ball back to Lacey Greene, before ducking wildly to avoid the bludger.

Lacey flew upwards and raised her arm to shoot at one of the hoops, but then abruptly dropped it where it was caught by another person in red. Caught off guard, the keeper, Elliot Jackson, wasn't able to stop the Quaffle from flying through the left hoop; thrown by Jack Benson who was waiting beneath Lacey.

_"And Gryffindor scores! Ten points to Gryffindor's side."_

"Look at Miranda!" Lily whispered happily.

The blonde was visibly angry. Her hair was messy and tangled, her face red as she tucked her bat beneath her arm and zoomed around the pitch, looking for someone to flatten.

"Why doesn't she tie her hair back?" Verity said in a low voice. "She's going to get it caught in someone's broom sooner or later."

Lily shrugged. "All the better for us then." she grinned and produced a red and gold flag from under her robes. "Get into the sprit of Quidditch, why don't you, and help me put up this flag?"

Verity groaned, but took a corner of the flag, and tied it above her head begrudgingly.

_"Oooh, that's gotta hurt!"_

"What? What?" Verity craned her neck to try and see what had happened. "I wasn't paying attention, who got hurt?"

"Neither was I!" Lily cried.

"Miranda got Margaret with a bludger!" Crystal pointed out onto the field.

Margaret was swaying dangerously on her broom. Karina flew to her and steadied her, before roaring off to the nearest bludger and sending it flying at Miranda.

Miranda screamed and swung the bat in front of her face, sending the bludger off in the other direction.

"Enough!" Madam Hooch hovered down between the two glowering girls. "Play fair, or don't play at all. You both have a warning now!"

The game resumed. Verity had forgotten what an excitement Quidditch really was. She should be safe where she was. She started to relax. The man wouldn't dare think of attacking her or anybody else when teachers were nearby.

"Do you think Margaret'll be alright?" Liam asked.

"I think so…" Lily said. They watched her soar through the air, hitting the occasional bludger at the Ravenclaw chasers.

Gryffindor scored, and scored again, and although Ravenclaw was trying its best, it was getting further behind Gryffindor's score.

This left Miranda getting wilder and wilder.

Savagely she sent the bludgers flying across the field, trying to hit every Gryffindor flying through the air.

"_Samara Parks flying for the Gryffindor goals, she passes to Wellings… he throws back to Parks and she shoots… and saved by Heather Llewellyn! Gryffindor has a good keeper there."_

They watched Heather throw the Quaffle back to one of the Gryffindor chasers.

"_AND VEENE'S SEEN THE SNITCH!"_

Allison had suddenly shot sideways, speeding after the tiny golden snitch. Mark Remington followed suit and chased her, but he was far behind already. Chances were he wouldn't get it.

A bludger whizzed past the stand where Verity and Lily had seated themselves and aimed itself for Lacey Greene. Catching sight of the bludger, she quickly dived downwards, the dark globe shooting over the top of her head. She was lucky.

Allison Veene, however, was not.

Paying attention to nothing else but the snitch, she stretched her arm out, fingertips just grasping at the tiny golden ball.

There was a loud crack as the Bludger hurtled into her and suddenly she was flung backwards off her broom, hurtling towards the ground.

Verity leapt to her feet and bolted to the edge of the stand as she looked over to see what had happened to Allison. She would have fallen quite a distance. Would she be alright?

There was a shout from below and with relief; Verity saw her being supported by James Potter and Jack Benson. The two had caught her on the way down. Blood was streaming from her nose, but she seemed ok.

But Mark Remington was holding his fist above his head as he shouted and waved; he had caught the snitch!

"_AND 150 POINTS IS ADDED TO GRYFFINDOR'S SCORE TO MAKE THE SCORE 240 – 50!"_

Cheers erupted from all the Gryffindors as they waved their flags madly, jumping up and down on the stands. Lily engulfed Verity in a hug.

James and Jack hovered above the ground and passed Allison's unconscious body to several of the teachers who quickly ushered away from the Quidditch field.

Miranda watched on, furious.

"You hit one of your own!" Samara Parks shouted at her.

"We would have won if you hadn't have hit her!" Ravenclaw Captain, Elliot Jackson added angrily from below her.

"It's her own fault! The stupid cow shouldn't have flown in front of the Bludger!" she shrieked back.

In a rage she flew towards the ground at full speed, her long hair flying behind her.

Sooner or later Verity's prediction would have come true. Unfortunately for Miranda, it was sooner rather than later.

With a screech, she was abruptly jerked back as her hair snagged in Elliot's broom. Several locks of hair were torn out as she screamed and struggled to get free.

Lily gave a hacking cough which Verity realised was Lily's attempt to disguise her laughter. Verity patted her on the back and grinned.

Miranda finally tore her hair free of Elliot's broom and caught sight of Verity giggling with Lily.

"Are you alright?" Elliot asked, grasping Miranda's baton for her.

"Gimme that!" she snarled as she snatched the bat back from him and charged towards the stand.

With a growl she threw the bat ferociously. Spinning, it soared through the air and hit Verity with a sharp thunk.

She collapsed. Falling backwards, she toppled over the back of the wooden seats and crashed into Crystal and Liam.

Lily gasped and clambered over the seats, trying to help.

"_Never_ laugh at me." Miranda hissed.

"What the heck is wrong with you?" Karina shouted at her. "Can't you control that bloody temper of yours?"

"Shut up or I'll hit you too!" Miranda gave one last glance at a panicked Lily trying to revive an unconscious Verity before flying to the ground and striding past a furious team.

* * *

"Verity, you look really bad." 

"No, honestly I'm fine."

"But your face is all purple."

"It could be worse."

Verity looked up from her breakfast over to the Ravenclaw table where Allison was seated. Madame Pomfrey has been able to fix the broken nose easily, but the majority of her face remained a horrible purple-black colour. Considering she was towards the head of the table, and Miranda was nearer to the end, Verity guessed Allison hadn't quite forgiven her for the Bludger incident.

"You know, she didn't even apologise to Allison." Lily said.

"She didn't even apologise to _you_." Crystal scoffed. "Even though that hefty detention would serve just as good."

"Not to mention Elliot kicked her off the team and she got replaced by Ebony Rush. Boy, was she nuts about that," Margaret imitated Miranda having a fit.

"Miranda is such a brat…" Lily said quietly. "She's seventeen for heaven's sake but she acts like such a little kid."

"It's her parent's fault," Margaret put in. "Adrian and Jacquelyn Cerritus are really rich and shower the twit in everything she could ever want."

Karina came up behind Margaret. "Any room?" She shifted over and let Karina sit beside her. "Sorry I'm late, I ran into Liam in the hall. He was really edgy for some reason."

She picked up a fork. "But if you're talking about Miranda and her parents behind their backs, can I join?"

"Go ahead." Crystal said as she spooned some more food onto her plate.

"When I arrived from Australia when I was 11, I ran into her at that ice-cream place in Diagon Alley."

"You mean Fortescue's Ice-cream Parlour?"

"Yeah. Anyway, we said our hellos, and she was quite polite really. But then her parents come up and act all snobby and tell her '_Not to interact with lower class people_.'"

Lily stared at her. "You mean…"

"…Miranda was actually _polite_ once in her life?" Margaret gasped.

Karina laughed. "Well that wasn't quite the part I was focusing on, but I suppose that's amazing in itself too."

"But with parents like that, no wonder she's turned out how she is…" Verity said.

"She's also re-dating Sirius Black."

Crystal tutted under her breath. "Like it'll last. It certainly didn't last time."

Lily glanced at Verity who was determinedly eating her cereal.

There was a flutter from above them and a large brown owl appeared above them, carrying a brown package.

The parcel dropped from the owl's grasp and landed in Verity's cereal, knocking over her glass of orange juice and spilling Verity's breakfast across the table and onto those sitting at it.

Over at the Ravenclaw table, Miranda giggled at the shrieking girls.

Verity spluttered and grabbed at the package, trying to keep it dry.

"Dumb owl!" Karina cried angrily.

"What is it?" Lily leaned forward at peered at the soaking parcel.

Verity peeled the brown paper and foam away to reveal a glittering necklace.

"Wow."

That was really all anyone could say. The shining silver chain shimmered in Verity hands, and the modest amethyst hanging from it was dazzling.

"Who sent it?" Crystal gasped.

"I have no idea." Verity searched through the wet paper but found nothing.

"That must have been really expensive." Margaret said in awe.

Verity unclipped the chain and secured it around her neck, while Lily grabbed the paper and screwed it up. She clicked her fingers.

Verity looked at her.

"It's Monday!" Lily said. "The necklace is from the tulip guy."

"Tulip guy?" Karina asked.

"Yeah, someone's been sending Verity tulips every Monday for a while." Crystal smiled. "We don't know who he is though."

The excitement died and soon they finished their breakfast, gathered their things and filed out into the entrance hall. Verity stopped in her tracks though, as two figures were already waiting at the bottom of the stairs uncertainly, as if they didn't know what they were doing there.

"Who are they?" Verity whispered behind her.

"Oh gosh, they're Emily's parents!" Crystal breathed. "So it looks like she _is_ going to St Mungo's after all."

Verity edged forwards and approached the two.

"Er… hello?"

The two turned and looked at her.

"Hi, I'm Verity Chambers. Do you need any help?"

"Oh, no thankyou." The woman said politely. "We're just waiting for Professor McGonagall. But you're friends with Emily, aren't you?"

Verity nodded quickly. "We all know her." She gestured to everyone behind her.

"Is she alright?" Lily asked. "Is she leaving Hogwarts?"

"We don't quite know. That's why your Professor summoned us up to the school."

"Oh, Mr and Mrs Apylbie! I am so sorry to keep you waiting like this. I didn't expect you would arrive so soon." McGonagall appeared at the top of the stairs. "This way, please." She waved a hand to her left. "We can talk in my office."

Mrs Apylbie shook Verity's hand. "It was nice meeting you."

"Well that can't be good." Crystal murmured as she watched the two people make their way up the stairs.

Verity sighed. "She'll get better." she said hopefully. "Anyway, I have Care of Magical Creatures with Crystal, so I'll see you later."

She turned to leave but found herself facing Miranda.

The other girl raised an eyebrow at Verity's bruised face and smirked slightly. She brushed passed her, knocking shoulders roughly.

"Hope it hurts," she muttered.

"THAT'S IT!" Karina roared.

Miranda jumped, startled, and stared at Karina.

"Apologise." Karina said firmly.

Miranda flicked her hair behind her shoulder. Verity could see the small tufts where it had gotten torn out by Elliot's broom.

"Why should I?" she crossed her arms defiantly.

A few more people exited the Great Hall and were waiting expectantly for something to happen.

"You'll apologise now." Karina's voice was soft but deadly.

Miranda snorted. "That cow deserved what she got."

Karina launched herself at Miranda.

Verity shrieked and grabbed at Karina's arms to stop her. Crystal, Lily and Margaret also joined in Verity's attempts.

Karina forced them off and grabbed at Miranda's hair; she screamed and scratched at Karina trying to get her off.

"Hey, hey, hey!" Sirius bounded out from the crowd and stood between the two and tore the girl off Miranda. "Leave my girlfriend alone!"

Verity stiffened faintly at the mention of "girlfriend".

"Get out of my way or I'll pound you too." Karina raised her fist threateningly.

"Like a girl like you could hit anyone." Sirius said scornfully, shoving her slightly.

Karina swung her fist heavily and slammed it into Sirius's face.

He swore violently as he stumbled backwards and slipped on the glossy marble floor.

"Oh I'm sorry, looks like you were right, I didn't hit anyone. Let me know when you turn into a real man." Karina walked past them coldly.

* * *

"Miss Russell, Mr Black has told me you assaulted him in the Entrance Hall." Professor McGonagall approached Karina after lunch. She looked forbiddingly stern. 

Karina's face was one of innocent surprise. "Oh, I'm terribly sorry Professor. I only tripped, and then as I fell one of my arms flung out and hit him."

The rest of the girls nodded eagerly behind her.

McGonagall looked even more severe. "How, exactly, did you trip?"

"He pushed me." Karina said truthfully.

Professor McGonagall sighed. "You are an excellent student, and I would rather you remain that way. Please do not _'trip'_ again."

She pulled an envelope out of her robes. "And, Miss Chambers, a letter arrived for you this morning. The owl unfortunately became lost on the way, and so ended up in my possession."

She silently took the letter from the Professor.

"But also, Miss Russell, there is the situation previous to the altercation with Mr Black, the one with Miss Cerritus." McGonagall resumed. "Perhaps you should come to my office." Karina made a face but left quietly.

Lily looked at the envelope. "What is it?"

Verity slid a finger under the seal and drew out a neat piece of paper. At the top was a seal of a wand crossed with a bone.

"I know that symbol… this is from St Mungo's." Verity said softly.

"_Miss Verity Chambers,_

_Katherine Chambers is currently under the care of the staff at St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries._

_She is receiving the best possible care after being found unconscious in the street last Thursday at 2.30 in the afternoon by a Muggle neighbour outside her house. She was then sent to a Muggle hospital after it was believed she had suffered a heart attack. _

_Magical correspondents are set up at each Muggle hospital to sort the real Muggle cases from the actual Magical cases. One of these correspondents sent Katherine to St Mungo's Hospital in which she is currently residing after recognising she had been hit by a spell known as the "Iracundi Curse". _

_It is suggested that she should see relatives soon, as her memory has been slightly modified by this spell. Should you wish to visit Katherine, she is located on the fourth floor in ward five._

_Visiting hours are listed on the following page. _

_Yours sincerely, _

_Harold Greene, _

_Head Healer at St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries."_

"Found unconscious in the street? What does that mean?" Crystal examined the letter.

"She was found unconscious in the street. What do you think it means!" Margaret snapped.

Lily took the envelope and fished out the second page. "Ground Floor: Artefact Accidents – 08:00 to 15:00. No, we don't need that. Here we are, Fourth Floor: Spell Damage – 11:00 to 18:00."

"The Iracundi Curse?" Verity dropped the letter and it spiralled to the ground. "_He_ did it. He attacked her. Like he attacked me."

"You can't be sure." Lily said.

"It had to have been him. The hooded guy."

Crystal was still examining the letter and looked up her friends, her eyes thoughtful.

"Verity, when was our last Care of Magical Creatures lesson?"

"Today…" Verity said slowly. "Why?"

"No, before today. It was Thursday, wasn't it?"

Verity shrugged, but Lily nodded. "Because I was in Potions when you had Care Magical Creatures." She said.

"It was not the hooded guy." Crystal shook her head firmly.

"How can you be so sure?"

"She was found at 2.30pm last _Thursday_." Crystal replied.

"…And?"

Crystal waved her hand at Verity. "We were dismissed from class at 2.30pm. And why were we dismissed from class? Because the hooded guy appeared at 2.30pm which messed up the lesson. I know the time because I remember looking at my watch."

"Yeah, so after we ran off and hid in the castle, he couldn't get to us, so he went to London and attacked Kate instead." Verity said grimly.

"How could he get to London?"

"What? He would've apparated, of course."

Lily snapped her fingers. "No he couldn't! Because you _can't apparate_ inside Hogwarts grounds!"

"And he couldn't have run all the way to Hogsmeade and apparated from there. Firstly, it takes quite a bit of time to get to Hogsmeade from here, and he couldn't have left straight away after the lesson because Kettleburn was still packing up the Snidget for another half an hour after that and the hooded man wouldn't want to risk being seen." Crystal explained.

"So that means either it's some random crazed maniac who went after Kate, or the hooded guy has someone working for him…" Margaret said in a hushed tone.

"So there's more than one?"

Verity sat on the floor, thinking.

"This has something to do with Patrick."

Everyone looked at her doubtfully.

"No, I'm not being biased or anything. He's up to something. He threatened me. And he threatened my mum. Add that to the fact a maniac in a giant cloak has tried to kill me, _and_ has tried to kill my aunt. That is not coincidence."

"What if the hooded guy _is_ Patrick?" Margaret suggested.

Verity shook her head. "When we were attacked at Hogsmeade he was in London with my mother. Professor McGonagall said so. So he couldn't be the same person."

"Your mother could be lying." Margaret insisted.

"No, because Verity saw McGonagall later about that idea; it's certain: Patrick could not have attacked us at Hogsmeade."

"So, will you visit Kate?" Crystal sat beside her.

Verity shrugged. "I don't know if I can."

"McGonagall'd _have_ to let you go!" Margaret said.

"It's not McGonagall I'm worried about." Verity said, biting her lip.

Lily understood. "It's your mum. You know she'll be at the hospital if you go."

A bell rang nearby, shrill and loud and the four girls groaned in unison.

"You never know," Crystal said. "She might not be."

"She wouldn't want to look bad in front of people; not visiting an ill family member. She'll be there." Verity said with all certainty as she picked up her bag and headed to her next class.

* * *

Verity returned from History of Magic in high spirits. Miranda hadn't turned up for class, and with nothing being flung in her direction, she found that quite pleasant. 

But that mood soon dissolved.

Mr and Mrs Apylbie, forlorn, accompanied by Professor McGonagall and Madame Pomfrey, were being farewelled in the Entrance Hall.

She moved closer.

"Miss Apylbie will be in the best of hands at St Mungo's. The Healers there know exactly what they're doing." Pomfrey assured.

Mrs Apylbie nodded uneasily.

Mr Apylbie caught sight of the pair of girls and smiled sadly. "Turns out Emily'll be leaving after all," he said softly. "She's really not well. Madame Pomfrey's sending her tonight."

"Oh," Verity murmured. "Well, I hope she gets better soon."

Eager to end the awkwardness, she steered away from the couple and decided to go to the Gryffindor common room to find Lily.

Lily found her first, bounding from the library hurriedly.

"Verity, I found something you might to read!" she said excitedly.

She beckoned for Verity to follow her back into the library.

"I've been doing some research on the Iracundi Curse," Lily commented as she searched through the dusty books. "I finally found it in Magical Spells of Olden Days, by Wilbur Prowler."

Verity stared at her as she ran her fingertips over the spines of the books along the 'M' section.

"Magical Sanitations... Magical Shape Shifting Potions... Magical Spells of Camelot... Magical Spells of Olden Days!" she announced triumphantly, producing an intricately decorated book and dropping it heavily onto the nearest table.

She carefully opened the embroidered cover and set the book down on the table and flipped through the pages.

"Verity, have you thought about _why_ Lyla and Emily are thinking as they are?" Lily peered closely at the index of the book.

"Well, um, because of the side effects of the spell?"

"But why _those_ people? Why not someone else? Why does Emily think she's a _cat_ of all things?"

"Well because she likes cats." Verity said.

"What about Lyla? She thinks she's Emily. And I highly doubt Lyla is very interested in Emily."

Verity stopped. "So... what do you mean exactly?"

"I mean... there's a reason for it. It's a very old spell. No-one uses it nowadays. Which is why it was so hard to find. Aha, here it is!"

She turned to a page somewhere in the middle of the book and started to read aloud.

"_The Iracundi Curse is a very old one indeed, but very powerful. The Iracundi curse's name derives from 'Iracundia' the Latin term for aganactesis -_ "

"Agna what?" Verity interrupted suddenly.

"Aganactesis. I think it's Greek or something. It means physical pain or something like that... because when it kills you, you die very painfully." Lily said briskly.

"But listen to this: _The curse is also known for its unusual side effects, where if the victim survives the spell, they will imagine themselves to be the person, animal, or object they were picturing in their minds as of the moment of being hit. If the person is cured fully, which is a difficult process to endure, they become immune to the spell and no further effects will surface. All thoughts that are not natural shall vanish and any other side effects will never afflict the victim again._"

Verity stared at the book, open-mouthed. "Die very painfully? Whoever is doing this, they're just…" she couldn't find the words.

"Yes indeed, but read what it says! That explains what's happened."

"What?"

Lily sighed. "_If the victim survives the spell, they will imagine themselves to be the person, animal, or object they were picturing in their minds as of the moment of being hit_" she repeated.

"Emily was running for the cat, remember? The cat's name must have been Bubbles. Emily was picturing the cat in her head. Lyla got hit just after Emily did. She was thinking about Emily and wondering what happened. She was picturing Emily in her head. So that explains it!" Lily said excitedly.

"Well that part makes sense now. But does it mention a cure?"

"Not really... it says it's difficult to cure because since it's such an ancient spell, people aren't really sure nowadays how to fix it. But it also depends on the amount of power put behind the spell."

Verity flopped down into a chair.

"Well, Emily's being shipped off the Mungo's tonight. Maybe I can visit her if I go see Kate."

Lily nodded. "She'd like that. You should go ask Professor McGonagall if you can visit her on the weekend. Now that you're in seventh year, you're allowed to do stuff like that."

She glanced out the window at the darkening sky. "Do you think anybody will find out who's behind this?"

Verity leant back and raised her arms. She didn't know.

"You never know," Lily said. "He might forget about some important clue that will reveal him."

Little did they know he already had.

* * *

Verity lay in bed that night; thinking. 

She hoped that Emily would be alright. She hoped Kate would be alright.

Her mind swarming with thoughts, it took quite a while to get to sleep.

But soon she was dreaming.

_She found herself in a place she'd never been before._

_It was dark, and the walls shone strangely in the silvery light streaming through the window._

_Verity glanced around her. Beds were lined against the walls, patients resting serenely. _

_She heard voices outside the room and walked to the doorway. Two women were chatting happily as they put on coats and prepared to leave the place. _

"_The new arrival got switched with the patient in ward five." One informed the other._

"_Oh," the second one pulled on her coat. "We'll notify the family tomorrow."_

_The first one nodded and the two left. The place was eerily quiet._

_Verity looked around her uneasily. _

_Soft footsteps came and someone moved from the shadows into the room. Verity peered closely at his face, but a mask concealed it._

_He moved closer to the bed nearest Verity. _

"_Katherine Chambers." Verity made out the sign above the bed. She gasped._

_She looked closer at the woman who was sleeping peacefully. _

"_Wait a minute…" she realised something._

_The man seized a pillow from a chair in the corner and held it above the woman._

"_Sadly you didn't die like I hoped. I won't let you reveal me," he hissed._

_Verity rushed forwards and tried to stop him but her hands went straight through the pillow as if it was air._

_The cushion came down upon the sleeping person's face. Instantly she seized up and started to fight as she realised what was happening. Verity grabbed at the man but to no avail; she was just a spirit. _

_There was nothing she could do. _

_The woman on the bed scratched and clawed desperately against the man but it was no use. Before long she was weakening, her arms drooping._

_Verity screamed._

"Verity!"

She jerked awake to find Lily looming above her.

"Are you alright?"

Verity was panting heavily, covered in sweat.

Then she realised.

She remembered the woman's face.

It wasn't Kate.

The girl in the bed wasn't Kate.

It was Emily.

* * *

**Important! Author's Note:**

**School is bombarding everyone in my year with assignments so Chapter nine may be quite a bit away. Sorry about this, but I _will_ try my best to get going on chapter nine.**

**But also: Inspiration makes me write. Reviews give inspiration (hint hint) Lol.**

**Now to the unimportant bits…**

**Many people seem to believe that James Potter was a seeker, but actually he was a chaser. Yay for chasers! I think it was the movies that made people think that...**

**Also thanks to Carmen, Linda, Lydia and Margaret for checking this before I posted!**

**Little-Kity**


	9. Visits

**About the James being a seeker/chaser thing:**

**James was actually a chaser, but the movies went egotistical and all and made him out to be a seeker. He _was_ playing with a snitch in the fifth book but he just stole that after a game.**

**Woohoo holidays! I was finally able to write up the chapter. Woot!**

**Anyways, thanks to: the mystirious kid :D, HGDM lova, Natalie G, Aidyl, hpfan142, Lauren, Margwet, VaNiTyFaIr and Romistic for reviewing!**

* * *

**Visits**

* * *

Moonlight shone in through the dusty window upon a woman slumped in the corner of the room. 

Her hair fell tangled around her tear-stained face as she lay motionless on the dusty floor. Ropes tightly bound her wrists and ankles, and a handkerchief had been crudely tied around her mouth, preventing her to shout out; to alert anyone of her existence in this place.

She had long given up hope of escape. She had tried many times before, but it was useless. There was no way out.

Only once did she come close. Once, she had been able to free herself from the coarse ropes, and hid in the shadows behind the door. When her captor entered to give her a dinner tray as he usually did before sunrise and sunset, she attacked him and fled out the door. But alas, she had not anticipated the other one to be there, ready with wand in hand.

She had been badly beaten and punished for that.

A clatter sounded from behind the door and a man entered the room. Still she made no movements.

Sneering cruelly at the woman, he set a tray down on the floor. The silver tray held a small plate of food, a glass of water, and two napkins. She would have to eat it with her hands; no knife or fork had been given for fear she would use them to defend herself. It had happened before.

The man pulled out a newspaper from his robes and dropped it carelessly in front of the woman before leaving the room and carefully locking the door behind him.

Low murmurings came from behind the door and the woman strained her ears to hear what the people were saying.

"… _more time… about Jennifer… don't understand…"_

There was an angry bark and loud footsteps echoing from the corridor. Then silence.

Quietly she dragged herself across the floor and drank some of the water. It dribbled down her chin and dripped onto the floor as her bound hands found it difficult to manoeuvre the glass properly.

As she ate the small meal, she scanned the newspaper, her eyes straining in the dim light for anything to suggest someone had noticed her disappearance.

Nothing.

With disgust she threw down the paper and collapsed back down onto the floor.

There was a flutter from outside and a small owl perched itself on the windowsill.

Her dark eyes flickered upwards at the feathered creature, preening itself gracefully in the silvery moonlight. She glanced feverishly at the door before crawling painfully towards the window.

"Here Birdie, Birdie…" she whispered.

She reached up to the barred window and desperately heaved at it, praying it would open for her now, unlike all those times before when she had thrown herself frantically at the bars.

The bars on the window had been constructed inside the room, so anybody who came past would not notice them and become suspicious. This meant she couldn't open the window… but she might be able to slide her hands between the metal shafts and slip something underneath.

Panting, she turned from the glass and searched the room recklessly. This could be her one shot at escaping. She must act quickly.

Footsteps echoed from beneath her and her heart leapt as she realised her captor was returning.

With difficulty, she grabbed the newspaper and hunted through its pages.

_Professional Seers Help Mediums Bring Out Their Gifts._

The title glared up at the woman, but she wasn't interested in the article about amateur seers attempting to foretell the future.

She tore at the paper, her heart thudding wildly. She could hear noises outside in the hallway. The small section of paper came free as she raced across the room ignoring her aching legs as she fell to her knees before the window and slipped the ripped paper through the gap between the window and the sill.

"Take it…" she whispered to the owl. "Take it to anyone you can!"

The handle rattled and the door began to open.

Terrified, the woman flung herself to the floor by the tray.

Outside the dingy room upon the windowsill, the owl cocked its head and stared at the two words printed on the paper.

_Help Me_

* * *

Lily yawned and headed up to the dormitories after a long night of study. Groaning, she realised the next night she would be on patrols, meaning she would have less time to study. 

Sleepily she climbed the stairs and collapsed into her bed. Settling comfortably, she closed her eyes and began to drift off to sleep.

A shrill scream echoed from the bed next to hers, jolting Lily awake. She jumped violently, then scrambled out of bed and rushed to the hangings, tearing them apart.

Verity squirmed in her bed, drenched in sweat, her arms clawing the air above her frenziedly.

Lily clambered onto the bed and shook Verity roughly.

"Verity!"

The girl's eyes opened suddenly as she gasped and choked.

"Are you alright?" Lily leant over Verity, staring anxiously at her friend.

Verity was panting as if she'd run a thousand miles. Images flashed through her mind.

She clutched Lily's arm tightly. "Emily! She's been attacked!"

"What?" Lily drew back.

"I was there! I was at Mungo's!" she sobbed. "Someone came and put a pillow on her face!"

She put her face in her hands and rocked back and forth.

"Shh…" Lily soothed.

Crystal, Margaret and several other Gryffindor girls had gathered around the bed.

"Oh, go crawl back into your holes." Lily said crossly as she patted Verity's back comfortingly. "She's just had a bad dream – that's all."

"Verity, listen to me. It was just a dream. Emily is fine."

Verity shook her head, tears streaming down her face. "She's not. I saw it. It wasn't just a dream! It was real!"

"Was it just as real as your other dream about your mother?" Lily said evenly. "You were so sure that dream was real too, but it wasn't. Your mother was fine; and still is. So Emily should be too."

Verity calmed down slightly. "Maybe you're right…" she said softly.

"Aren't I always?" Lily grinned.

Verity sighed and sank back down onto her pillow, wiping the tears from her face.

"So, you're alright now?"

Verity nodded.

Satisfied, Lily climbed back into her own bed, drew the hangings and went to sleep.

* * *

Verity, still slightly shaky, climbed out of bed the next morning and collected her books before leaving for breakfast. 

Ritually she combed her hair, put on her robes and slipped her amethyst necklace over her head.

"The dream wasn't true. It was just a dream. I'm perfectly fine." She told herself as she climbed carefully down the winding staircase.

She shrieked and threw her books into the air as Margaret's cat shot out from under a table and tore up the stairs.

Crystal and Margaret were looking worriedly at her from across a table.

"Oh grow up, everybody has nightmares," Lily said scathingly, as she grabbed Verity and accompanied her to breakfast.

Crystal stared after them doubtfully but followed with Margaret.

Lily read through the Daily Prophet that had been faithfully delivered by her owl as she gathered her meal.

"Hey, Lily, can I borrow your paper after you finish? My owl's late today." Verity said as she checked her timetable.

Lily nodded and turned the page in the paper.

There was a bang at the end of the hall and Miranda Cerritus stormed in, before throwing herself sulkily onto a bench by the Ravenclaw table.

"What's with Miranda?" Margaret asked.

Crystal shrugged. "When is anything _not_ with Miranda? Silly git has to sulk about _something_ – she's an attention seeker."

Margaret waved her hands cautiously for Crystal to be quiet; Sirius was only sitting a few seats away, but unfortunately he'd heard.

He stood up angrily. "I'm sorry did you call my girlfriend an attention seeker?"

Crystal turned slightly pink and opened her mouth.

"Well, actually, she called her a silly git first." Karina interjected. She stood up threateningly.

"You don't scare me." Sirius scoffed.

"Oh really?"

Lily rolled her eyes and turned another page in the paper as Sirius and Karina started to shout at each other.

She stared in disbelief at the article on the next page.

_ATTACK AT MUNGO'S_

_Late last night, two hospital patients were brutally attacked at St Mungo's Hospital for Maladies and Injuries._

_Emily Apylbie, a Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry student, was the first to be attacked, then another patient, Katherine Chambers. _

_At approximately midnight last night, a man made his way past the hospital security and attempted to suffocate Miss Apylbie with a pillow as she lay asleep. Another hospital patient, Miss Chambers, happened to wake up during the attack. She tried to prevent the attacker from harming the seventeen year old, but was then stabbed. _

_Nurses heard the shouts from other patients who had awaken during the assault and tried to subdue the attacker, but he fled the scene. _

_Aurors are unsure of why the attack occurred and are hunting the man down._

_Miss Apylbie and Miss Chambers are currently recovering from their ordeal. _

"Oh my God." Lily gasped.

Verity looked over at her. "What's wrong?"

Lily covered her mouth; starting to shake. "It's Emily… and your Aunt…"

"My Aunt! What happened?" Verity cried. She grabbed at the newspaper roughly and read the article.

Her head swirled suddenly. Her dream was true. Emily had been attacked.

Her Aunt had been stabbed.

But the dream was true.

Lily's words from last night echoed in her mind.

"_Was it just as real as your other dream about your mother? You were so sure that dream was real too, but it wasn't. Your mother was fine; and still is. So Emily should be too."_

But Emily wasn't fine. Would her mother be?

Everything blurred and spots of light drifted past her eyes. She swayed at the table and knocked her breakfast onto the floor.

"Verity?" Crystal's voice came floating from across the table; as if from a distance.

She slid backwards off her seat and lay sprawled across the floor. Lily cried out and clambered to help her.

"Are you alright?" she asked.

Verity's eyes rolled back in her head and she didn't reply.

"She's dead!" Margaret screeched.

"Shut up, she's not dead!" Lily shouted.

She peered closer at Verity. "She hit her head, I think."

Groaning, she hoisted the girl off the floor and propped her up against the table.

"Wait no, you're meant to have her head on the floor and her legs up." Margaret pointed out.

"Why don't we take her to the Hospital Wing?" Crystal said.

"I'll help!" James scrambled around the table and came up to them.

Lily grimaced but gestured for him to help.

Together the three girls and James hauled Verity up to the first floor and knocked on the Hospital Wing.

"Oh Lord, not you lot again…" Madam Pomfrey sighed as she opened the doors. "Bring her in."

Lily noticed Lyla sitting up in a bed nearby.

"Hi… Lyla?" she said cautiously.

Lyla nodded. "Madam Pomfrey says I'm getting better. I should be out soon."

Crystal grinned. "So you've recovered?"

Lyla nodded again. "Well, she thinks I have. We'll just need to wait and see."

The four left the wing and began to depart for class.

"Lily, wait!" James called.

Lily turned and stared at him.

"I'm, I'm…" he blushed suddenly.

"You're what?"

"I'm sorry for hurting Sniv…. Uh, Snape." He gabbled. "Even though he deserved it."

Lily raised an eyebrow.

"Well, uh, the point is, I'm really sorry, but, uh, I, uh, I really like you. And I'm sorry for doing stuff. But will you go out with me?"

"Um…" Lily was starting to feel slightly flustered. "But, there isn't another Hogsmeade visit for a while, because the holidays are coming up."

"Oh…. Well would you, uh, like to go out in the holidays?" James was waving his hands around. "Like, we can get into a group and….I don't know…" he stared at his feet.

"Um, we could watch a movie?" Lily said. She mentally smacked herself. _You should have said no and walked off._

He looked puzzled. "What's a movie?"

_Walk away. Walk away. Walk away. _"It's really fun.We should get together in the holidays and see one." She mentally smacked herself again. _Why did you say that? You should have said no!_

"Oh." James brightened up. "That's great! I'll, um, owl you in the holidays!" He turned and hurried off down the corridor.

Lily felt strange. She'd just said she'd go out with James Potter. But for some reason it felt good.

Puzzled, she set off to her next class.

* * *

Verity woke up drowsily and tried to sit up in the bed. 

She shook her head. "Where am I?" she mumbled.

"Oh you're awake. You're in the hospital wing. You passed out and hit your head."

Verity eyes opened and she saw Madam Pomfrey in front of her.

She produced a small green bottle which Verity recognised from one of her previous visits to the Hospital Wing.

"You have a concussion. Drink this."

Verity winced and made a face as she drank it.

"How many fingers?" Madam Pomfrey asked as she waved her hand before Verity's face.

Verity coughed. "Um… two."

Madam Pomfrey nodded. "Well you can go now. It's lunchtime."

Verity slid from the bed and made her way to the Gryffindor common room.

Lily was sitting at the table, finishing an essay on the positive and negative effects of dragons blood when applied to mandrake roots.

"Augh I haven't done that…" Verity sighed as she sat down next to Lily.

"Well you better get started." Lily said. "You also have that report on Snidgets due next week."

Verity groaned. "You're not even in my class and you know what's for homework."

Lily shrugged carelessly. "Are you at least feeling better?"

Verity frowned. "I don't know. I mean, with Emily being attacked… that's made me think that maybe now my mum could be at risk. I dreamt about her. I dreamt she was pushed down the stairs. What if she is?"

Lily thought for a moment and put her hand on Verity's shoulder.

"Well I asked Professor McGonagall for you about that trip to St Mungo's. She said you could if it was just a day trip and you caught up immediately with all the work you missed, then you could go. She said you could probably go on Sunday. And there's a big chance you'll meet up with your mum at the hospital."

Verity smiled and hugged her friend. "Thanks heaps."

* * *

Verity packed up her telescope at half past eleven that night to attend the last class of the day; Astronomy. 

"See, this is why I didn't take Astronomy." Lily said as she left. "I don't feel like tramping up to the tallest tower in the castle at midnight."

Finally at the classroom, Professor Sinistra stood majestically before them. She was quite a young witch and rather new to the school.

"Now, you have to hand in those star charts in tomorrow, yes?"

The class shook their heads.

"Tomorrow's Sunday, Miss." Corrected Karina.

The teacher nodded. "Yes, Sunday. You can deliver them to my office."

The class groaned.

"Ok, well then, set up your telescopes and locate for me the constellation of Ophiuchus. Then direct your telescopes 5 degrees to the left and…"

Verity fiddled with her telescope and tried to make it fit, but the gears had jammed. Clicking her tongue in annoyance, she bent down and tried to loosen the stand on her telescope. A whiny voice flitted near her.

"I mean, he doesn't have time for me anymore…" Miranda complained from in front of her.

Verity listened closer.

"I mean, seriously, he's 'too busy' but auuugh I just hate him!" she sighed.

"Oh come on Miranda, your father _is _busy. You know parents have lives too." said her friend Allison.

"My father doesn't _have_ a life."

Verity rolled her eyes. "At least you have a father," she said to herself quietly.

Miranda sighed again and began to find the constellation Professor Sinistra had been talking of.

Verity's telescope wasn't working. She growled and hit at it angrily and began trying to loosen the gears once more.

"Darn stupid telescope!" she snapped.

She kicked the telescope in annoyance, causing the loosened gears to finally come free. The telescope flew off the stand and soared through the air and smashed into Miranda's stand, causing it to topple to the floor and slide across the room.

"Sorry!" Verity exclaimed.

Miranda gasped. "You broke my telescope!" she screeched.

"Now, now, Miss Cerritus, I'm sure it's not broken." Professor Sinistra said as she knelt by Karina's telescope. "But will anyone clear that mess up? I'm still helping Miss Russell on her constellation."

"I'll get it!" Peter Pettigrew leapt up and bounced across the room and gathered up the telescopes.

He started to make his way back to the girls but he lost his footing and stumbled against the wall of the tower.

"No!" Miranda shouted, but alas, it was too late.

Peter had fallen against the window, and the two telescopes flew majestically out towards the darkening sky and hurtled towards the lake.

The class gaped at Peter.

He gazed out the window. "It might not be that far down…"

Karina stared at him. "Dude, we're in the tallest tower of the school."

"You owe me 50 galleons!" Miranda shouted at Verity.

"I didn't throw your telescope out of the window! He did!" she pointed at the cowering boy.

"Do I look like I care?" Miranda shot at her. "I want my money!"

"Now, now, girls." Professor Sinistra same forward. "I'm sure we can fix your telescopes…" she trailed off as she stared out the window. "Then again, they landed in the lake."

"You cow! You destroyed my telescope!" Miranda lunged at Verity.

Verity dove out of the way and Miranda bowled headfirst into Liam Clemens who was at the telescope behind Verity. He hit the floor with a loud thud but Miranda didn't seem to care.

"Good Lord, Miss Cerritus! What are you doing?" Professor Sinistra ran forwards but Miranda ducked under her arms and came for Verity again.

"I'm sorry!" Verity yelled as she tried to hide away from the girl.

"No you aren't! You've always been out to get me! Now I'm going to get you!" She punched for Verity but hit Bethany Marian's telescope instead.

"Hey!" Bethany cried.

Miranda's fist swung again and Verity jumped backwards. Tripping as Peter had done before her, she hit the open window.

With a scream she toppled out.

_I'm dead..._ she thought in panic.

But then hands gripped her ankles and she halted.

The world spun around her as she was hauled her back through the window. As her vision cleared she saw her saviour, Liam, standing before her.

"Oh, oh my Lord, Miss Chambers! Are you alright? Oh dear, oh dear." Professor Sinistra fretted. She looked close to tears.

Verity gasped for breath and abruptly threw up.

"Everybody pack away your telescopes, class is finished." The Professor announced shakily. She grabbed Verity around the shoulders. "I'm taking you to the Hospital Wing."

Verity stumbled and tripped as she tried to make her way down the spiral staircases that lead down from the forbidding tower. Her heart was still beating at a million miles an hour and she was having trouble walking.

Liam came up behind them. "I'll help." He offered.

"Thankyou Mr Clemens." Professor Sinistra said.

Verity found she was shivering. She coughed and swayed slightly.

Liam took off his coat and put it around her shoulders.

Verity looked at him. "Thanks."

The arrived at the Hospital Wing and the Professor knocked loudly on the door.

Madam Pomfrey opened the wooden doors and peered out. "Miss Chambers? What did you do this time?" she exclaimed.

Professor Sinistra explained the situation as Liam led Verity to one of the beds and she sat down.

She drew in a deep shuddering breath and put her head in her hands.

The two sat awkwardly for a minute while Madam Pomfrey bustled off to find a potion of some sort.

Liam tried to break the silence. "Well, uh, how have you been lately?"

"Um, fine thanks." Verity said. She played with her necklace nervously.

He glanced at the amethyst shining between her fingers.

"You're wearing the necklace!" he blurted suddenly.

Verity looked at him. "Sorry?"

"I, uh, nothing," he stammered.

Madam Pomfrey came up brandishing a small jug filled with a silvery liquid.

"This is to help with the shock." She interrupted, handing Verity a small cup and pouring the liquid into it.

"Oh ok. Thanks." Verity sipped the potion slowly.

"Err, well I'll go now then." Liam got up rather quickly and edged out of the room.

Verity's head cleared after she finished the cup. "Thankyou," she gave the cup back to the Matron.

"Oh!" she realised she was still wearing Liam's coat. "Can I go now?"

Madam Pomfrey sniffed. "If you feel better."

Verity nodded and ran out of the room; jogging up to Gryffindor tower.

"Liam!" she called as she climbed through the portrait-hole.

He was sitting by the fire and leapt up; startled.

"Sorry," she apologised. "It's just, I still have your coat."

He blinked. "Oh right. Thanks."

Still holding the coat, she decided to take a chance.

"Did you send me the necklace?" she asked.

Liam hesitated and fidgeted. "Well, yes."

"Oh... Well, thankyou. That's really… sweet."

"Um, you're welcome." The boy was bright red by this stage.

Verity bit her lip. "Did you also send me those tulips?"

He smiled shyly. "Erm, yeah."

"Well… thanks for those as well. I really like tulips."

He nodded anxiously.

"Well, um, I'll go to bed now then. It's like 1am. But thanks for... everything." Verity said. She turned to climb the staircase but Liam started forward.

"Wait, do you…" he trailed off and blushed even more.

She paused at the stairs. "Do I…?"

"Do you want to... go on a picnic… sometime?" he stuttered. "Like… in the holidays?"

"Oh, well I'd really love to." She stopped and thought. "But I don't think I'm going home for the holidays."

"Oh…" he said, looking disappointed.

"But, but I'd really love to go." Verity said quickly. "As in… maybe… another time? I like picnics."

He nodded, looking happier.

"Well then, I'll, um, see you later." Verity said as she headed towards her dormitory.

"If you do go home for the holidays though," Liam called after her. "Would you go?"

Verity nodded. "Sure."

* * *

The following morning was spent catching up on essays and other due work. A visit to Professor McGonagall confirmed that Verity would be allowed to travel to London, provided all work would be caught up on. 

Verity lay on the floor of the common room, a quill poised above the page in front of her.

"The Ministry of Magic is making reserves for Snidgets… do you know where they are?" she asked Lily.

"This is your essay not mine." Lily protested as she started on an essay of her own. "But I think I read in the Daily Prophet that they're setting up one in the remote parts of Wessex."

Verity grinned. "Thanks, Lil."

She soon finished her Snidget essay and began on her star map.

"Lily, can you hand in my star map for me tomorrow?" she asked. "Because I'll be in London."

"Oh, but I'm coming with you remember?" Lily said as she filled in the properties of Polyjuice Potion when applied in certain circumstances.

"Huh? You're coming with me?"

Lily nodded. "McGonagall told you this morning. You _were_ listening weren't you?"

"Oh… uh sure."

Lily sighed. "Obviously Professor McGonagall isn't going to just send off a single student on her own. Plus you have no idea where the hospital even is. So she's sending me with you."

"Well that's good I suppose." Verity said as she filled in the last constellations needed on her star chart.

She threw down her quill in triumph. "I finished!"

"Then I suppose it'd be a bad time to tell you that you did the Vela constellation wrong?" James remarked from his chair by the portrait hole.

"Huh? Where?" Verity cried.

James grinned. "Only kidding."

A book flew at him.

"Good shot." Lily said.

* * *

The next day Verity and Lily walked to Hogsmeade station and caught the train from Hogsmeade to King Cross. 

Nervously Verity followed Lily as she weaved her way through the streets and navigated to St Mungo's.

They soon arrived at a shop called Purge and Dowse Ltd. It wasn't a very attractive building and a "Closed for Refurbishment" sign hung on the doors.

Lily stopped and peered into the window.

"The shop's closed." Verity pointed at the sign.

Lily snorted. "You really have no idea where Mungo's really is. This is the hospital."

"Oh." Verity said. "Well it looks lovely."

Lily laughed and stood in front of an ugly dummy standing alone in the window. She started to talk to it.

Verity's gaze wandered across the street. She shivered suddenly and her anxiousness grew more.

"Verity!" Lily called and beckoned. The two walked through the bizarre window and found themselves inside a gleaming white reception area.

Lily walked to a window where a bored looking witch sat.

"Err, hi we're here to see a Miss Katherine Chambers, on the fourth floor?"

The witch grabbed at a book and flipped through it. "You can find her… in the Grogan Stump Ward… err that's ward five."

She smiled broadly at Verity. "Why, you're a little cutie." She said. "How old are you?"

"Uh, seventeen?" Verity said quietly.

"Oh! Oh, dearie me I'm sorry. You look young."

Verity turned red as Lily thanked the witch and ushered Verity away.

"Oh you're such a cutie pie." Lily teased.

"Shut up, it's not my fault." Verity said irritably.

The two climbed up the winding stairwell.

"I know wizards don't like muggles, but I could really use an elevator right now." Verity puffed.

They finally reached the fourth floor for Spell Damage and made their way to the fifth ward.

Verity leant into the room and with a sinking heart saw two forbidding figures standing over the bed.

"It's _her_ and Patrick." She growled.

"Damn, I was hoping to avoid them." Lily whispered. "Whatever you do, do _not _lose your temper. It's not going to do anything for you. You're better off playing to your strengths. And fighting isn't one of them."

The two sidled into the room cautiously and edged towards the bed in which laid Kate.

Patrick looked up. "What are you doing here?" he snarled.

"Visiting my aunt." Verity said.

Lily jabbed her slightly with her elbow. She leant forward and held out her hand.

"Pleased to meet you. I'm Lily Evans. I've heard a lot about you two from Verity." Her smile quickly faltered and she realised that might not have been perceived as a compliment.

"Well this is awfully dreadful isn't it?" Lily said, trying to fill in the silence. "Verity just wanted a quick chat with her aunt, and then we'll probably go back to Hogwarts. Shan't bother you too much, I'm sure you'll want to spend a lot of time with your sister."

She nudged Verity who walked to the edge of the bed.

"Stop!" Patrick ordered.

Verity halted.

"We don't want you – either of you – to talk to Kate!" Patrick pushed Verity away from the sleeping woman.

"Don't you touch me!" Verity pushed him back.

"Don't you touch my husband!" Leanne stepped between the two and raised her hand threateningly.

"I want you to get away from my sister." She said in a dangerous voice. "Both of you, get out now!"

Verity backed away, but bumped into Lily who pointed across the room. Emily Apylbie was sitting in one of the beds, looking hopefully over at them.

The girls started to make their way further into the room over to Emily.

"What are you doing?" Leanne said icily. "I told you to get out!"

"You don't run this hospital." Verity snapped. "We're going to see our friend."

"Hi!" Emily said.

"Hi…" Verity said. She looked at Lily. "Is she Emily or still Bubbles?"

Lily shrugged.

"I'm Emily." The girl piped up.

"Oh that's great." Lily said. "So you're getting better."

Emily nodded. "The Healers told me that the shock made me better. They have no idea why, though."

Verity blinked. "I see. So… what happened was actually good for you?"

"In a strange way, yes."

"That's scary." Lily said. "So does that mean you'll be coming back to Hogwarts?"

Emily shook her head. "My parents are going to get a tutor for me at home. I'm not going back to Hogwarts until the end of the year so I can do my NEWTs."

"Seriously?" Verity asked.

"We had a talk about it before mum and dad went up to the fifth floor to get some tea. They think it'd be best if I didn't go back."

"Oh…" Verity said, disappointed. "Well, we'll all miss you then."

Emily glanced over at Patrick and Leanne who were glowering at the girls and whispering between themselves.

"Those two are an odd pair." She said in a low voice. "All they've done is shooed away anyone who tries to go near the woman."

Patrick noticed the three staring at him and lumbered over. "That's it, it's time for you to go!" he said roughly.

He grabbed Verity and hauled her to her feet.

"Ouch let go of me!" she yelled.

He started to drag her towards the door.

"Don't you dare touch her!" Lily shouted.

Verity struggled and slapped him across the face; Patrick growled and threw her to the floor.

Lily rushed beside her and helped her to her feet. "You evil…" she was cut off as two familiar people walked into the room; one was carrying a tray of tea. It was Mr and Mrs Apylbie.

"What's going on?" Mrs Apylbie said, confused.

A few nurses appeared behind her.

Verity opened her mouth to shout obscenities at Patrick, then stopped.

_Play to your strengths_ Lily had said earlier.

She remembered the receptionist lady from the ground floor: _Why, you're a little cutie._

She decided what she had to do.

She looked around at Patrick and the others waiting expectantly around her.

Then she burst into tears.

* * *

Of course, Patrick hadn't been much prepared for that. Leanne hadn't been either. 

And so the caring nurses comforted the poor girl as Lily and Emily shouted abuse.

And so Leanne and Patrick were thrown out of the hospital.

And so Verity was able to talk to her aunt.

But she wasn't able to talk much. Only that she was recovering well and glad that her niece and her lovely friend had come and how a terrible fiend had come along during the night.

"Do you know who he was? Had you seen him before?" Verity asked.

Kate replied that no, she didn't know who the man was. But she did feel as if she'd seen him somewhere before.

"Of course, it was in the dark, so I could have been mistaken. But also… I felt… as if… I was on fire. Quite odd isn't it?"

"What do you think that means?" Verity asked Lily as they left the hospital.

Lily shrugged. "I have no idea, but mind you, she did get stabbed – maybe it was the pain from that?"

But Verity wasn't so sure.

They soon arrived back at Kings Cross, to the dismay of Lily. "Do we have to go back so soon? Like, can't we go shopping or something first?"

"We'd get killed by Professor McGonagall if we did anything other than go to Mungo's. Can you imagine?"

"I suppose." Lily said sadly as she gazed wistfully at a line of stores nearby.

Verity rolled her eyes. "One shop."

"One shop?"

"Fine."

Lily cheered and dragged Verity behind her to a clothes shop.

"Hurrah! Clothes!" She trotted happily around the store.

Verity wandered aimlessly past a rack of shoes, and a certain pair caught her eye. They were strange and the sort she'd never seen before.

"Hey, what are these?" she beckoned Lily to come.

"Oh. They're stilettos. I tried on a pair once. Very hard to walk in."

"I think they're funny." Verity peered closer.

"Haha yes they are." Lily coughed suddenly. "I feel a bit cold. Let's go back now."

Verity nodded and the two started to leave the store when a chill ran up her spine.

"You alright?" Lily looked at her worriedly.

"I feel… strange." Verity admitted. "Also when I was at Mungo's."

"Oh that's not good." Lily patted her back. "You probably picked up something at the hospital."

"No it wasn't like…" she trailed of. In the midst of the crowded street, a cloaked figure stood waiting.

Verity swore. "He's here! Lil, we gotta go!"

She tore from the store, Lily at her heels. Running like the wind, they scrambled up the station steps at King Cross.

Gasping for breath, Lily clung to her arm as they slowed down. "Did we lose him?"

Verity looked around wildly. The man came tearing up the steps after them.

"Run!" she shrieked.

The two pelted down the station and ran into the familiar wall of stone that led into Platform 9 ¾.

A blue train much like the Hogwarts Express waited at the platform. They ran breathlessly and flung themselves onto it, before hiding in one of the compartments.

"Have we lost him now?" Lily whispered.

Verity peeked out of their compartment.

The door of the carriage opened and slammed behind the man who entered.

She ducked back through the door, her heart beating wildly.

The man strode to the compartment in front of him and kicked the door open, before searching the room.

"What do we do?" Lily asked frantically.

The compartment next to theirs was brutally kicked open. Verity's heart leapt into her throat.

"Under the seat!" she hissed.

The two wriggled under the seats as their door crashed open. The huddled together in fear as a pair of black boots came into view as the man checked the luggage racks above the seats.

Verity held her breath as he circled the compartment before stalking out.

He was gone.

But still, neither moved from their spots until the train had reached its destination.

* * *

That night, Verity and Lily sat on the floor of their dormitory. 

"We have to tell Professor McGonagall." Lily said tearfully.

"That what? We saw a guy at the station who walked onto the same train as us? That blue train is for wizard and witch use between Kings Cross and other magical country towns. Anybody's allowed on it. He could have been anybody." Verity said dully.

"He was after us!" Lily wiped at her face. "He was going to get us."

"We can't prove it."

"But what can we do?" Lily hugged her knees.

"We can't do anything. All we can do is keep out of his way."

There was a long silence between them.

"Why is he doing this?"

Verity shook her head. "I don't know. I've asked myself a million times… but I don't know."

There was a noise at the window and a small owl appeared, trying to get in.

"May!" Verity crawled to the window and unlatched it. "Where have you been?"

The owl dropped a scrap of paper to the floor and looked very happy about herself.

"What's this?" Verity picked up the paper and tried to focus on the words printed on it.

_Help Me_

She stared, confused at the paper.

"What is it?" Lily asked, leaning over her shoulder. "Who's it from?"

* * *

Far away, in London, a woman lay crying in the corner of a dark and dusty room. 

Her captor had found she'd torn his newspaper. For that she had received no dinner, and a savage beating.

"They'll find you!" she shouted hoarsely. "Someone will realise what you're doing!"

She sobbed slightly. "Do you hear me!" she screamed.

The door opened and light spilled into the room. Shielding her eyes she cringed as the man walked slowly up to her.

"Shut. Up." He scowled.

He inspected his fingernails. "You have no-one. So stop your silly whining."

He walked back to the door and slammed it behind him.

The woman raised her face to the moon behind the bars, high up in the sky. She remembered the little owl, fluttering away with her message. Someone would find it. Someone would investigate it.

And someone would find her.

* * *

**Author's Note:**

**Thanks to Anjali, Emma and Lydia for reading this over before I posted!**

**Also thanks to Angela for the picnic idea. :o)**

**Can't update until my next holiday break though, really sorry. But I'll try. **

**Little Kity**


	10. Holidays

**Hooray! Winter holidays! Ala new chapter!**

**Thanks to leki the philosophical momad, Aidyl, Emmmmmmmma S., RoMIstIC, Julie, HGDMlova, hpfan142, the7kids2000, Cyn91, and The-Flame-Faerie** **for reviewing!**

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* * *

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**Holidays**

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* * *

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The last week of school for the term was a busy one.

The teachers, eager to load up the students with holiday homework, increased the workload dramatically.

The extra amount of essays and reports due threw the seventh years into turmoil.

Verity abandoned anything trivial to her life and threw herself into her work. She would rather spend this last week working hard and to enjoy her holidays.

In her rather rare, spare time, she would take the opportunity to sit back and think. Who was the letter from? Most likely a random person playing a joke, Lily had said. But Verity still wondered, and kept the scrap of paper hidden away somewhere safe.

But if the other seventh years had found coping with the work hard, it was nothing to how Lyla Sapientia felt as she finally was discharged from the Hospital Wing.

Verity, Crystal and others had diligently been collecting her work for her on a desk in their dormitory. Three feet high, it swayed formidably whenever people walked past, waiting for someone to finish the many reports stacked in its midst.

"You can't be serious – Professor Humperdinkle wants me to write _all this_?" Lyla protested one night as she flipped through her Defence Against the Dark Arts work.

Crystal sniggered and Lily glared at her.

"You shan't make fun of Professor Humperdinkle's name." she lectured. "He's new to this school and he's trying his best to teach without people making fun of his unusual name."

This caused Crystal to laugh even harder.

"Well you people can do what you want but I'm going right up to Professor Humperdinkle - don't you dare start laughing, Crystal - and I'm telling him I'm not doing it." With that she marched out of the room.

The others followed reproachfully.

They climbed up the many staircases and reached the second floor before Lyla charged towards the Defence Against the Dark Arts office. But before she quite reached it…

"Oi! You!" a voice slurred from the wall nearby.

Lyla swore. "I forgot about you." She turned to the painting on the wall.

Anjali the drunken Indian girl leered at her from the painting, tottering slightly as she held a beer bottle in her hand. "How could you forget about me?" she hiccupped. "You…. You… pesterous…mungle!"

Emma the Elephant and Hayley and Harriet the Happy Monkeys raised their finely painted eyebrows at her.

"Is she drunker than usual?" Crystal whispered.

"Oh, anybody could forget about you." Lyla snapped. "Why do you always target me?"

"Because you're –hic- … stupid." Anjali giggled and staggered into the elephant.

Lyla's wand whipped out from her robes and she stared to fling it wildly about.

Crystal caught onto her arms and tried to hold her back. "No Lyla! She's just a painting! Don't do it!"

Anjali cackled and wobbled about, tripping clumsily on the numerous beer bottles littering the grass around her feet. "You won't –hic- hurt me because…. –hic- you're stupid."

"I'll show you who's stupid!" Lyla bawled.

"Here's what I… think of you!" Anjali garbled.

She threw her empty beer bottle at Lyla.

Lyla covered her head with her arms as the bottle spiralled towards her… then hit the outer canvas of the picture and bounced back at Anjali.

It hit her head with a sharp _thunk_ and she dropped to the ground, unconscious.

The girls stared at her.

Hayley, one of the Happy Monkeys, laughed and pointed at the girl. "She killed herself."

The other monkey, Harriet, dropped to the ground from a nearby tree and trotted over to the girl. She picked up a stick and prodded her several times. Anjali grunted in her sleep.

"She's not dead you moron." Harriet said.

There was a noise from the down the corridor and Professor Humperdinkle's bald head popped into the corridor.

"What's going on here?" he asked. "I heard shouting."

"Yeah, like half an hour ago." Harriet muttered as she scampered up the tree again. "He's as much a buffoon as the last bloke who tried teaching here."

"You! Humperdinkle!" Lyla charged forwards.

The Professor looked at her, surprised. "I'm glad your stay in the Hospital Wing has improved your manners, Miss Sapientia."

He was an elderly sort of man, with a balding head and small rounded glasses. Verity rather felt sorry for him as Lyla ranted on about her schoolwork.

"Well I'm sorry Miss Sapientia, but all these assignments will be going towards your NEWTs at the end of the year. If you want to, you can speak to your Year Advisor about this, you can but I'm afraid I can't do anything." Professor Humperdinkle wrung his hands anxiously.

He caught sight of Verity standing cautiously to the side of the others.

"Oh! Miss Chambers! I found your essay on the effects of death on potions _very_ interesting. Excellent choice of topic, even if it is rather dark."

Verity blinked. She'd forgotten she'd even handed it in. "Well thankyou sir."

He nodded approvingly. "Keep it up."

Lyla scowled at the Professor as he plodded back to his office.

Lily frowned, but didn't say anything.

"Have a heart Lyla, it isn't his fault." Crystal said.

Lyla simply scowled more and stomped away, knocking Anjali's painting off the wall and upside down onto the floor. Anjali fell on her head and jerked awake blindly. "You godforsaken little witch! Smite her! Smite her!"

After rearranging herself in her new upside-down world, she glared after Lyla. "You pesterous git!" she roared. "You shall be smote! Smote I say!" she cackled wildly.

* * *

"Anjali's out to get you." Crystal commented as they left their Defence Against the Dark Arts later that day. 

"Psh. What's she going to do? Throw another bottle at me?" Lyla snorted.

Verity shrugged. "Sometimes paintings can do stuff. Sort of rare, but it happens sometimes."

Professor Humperdinkle coughed just as the girls started to leave the room. "Now don't forget your Lethifolds essay! Due end of the week!"

Lyla started to groan but ducked suddenly as a She sharply inhaled and pretended to smile.

"What is it?" Crystal asked.

"Kate's better. The Healers want her to stay in Mungo's longer, but she checked herself out today. And she wants me to stay for the holidays."

"Oh that's great!" Lyla cheered.

Verity was silent. It would mean she would have to probably see her mother. Maybe she was better off staying at Hogwarts after all.

They headed out by the lake and sat down to eat lunch.

Lily and Margaret were chattering on about a potions assignment, and Crystal and Lyla were arguing about how exactly Lethifolds attacked people.

"They smother people at night." Crystal insisted.

"No, they swallow people whole!" Lyla snapped.

"Lethifolds smother people at night, _then_ eat them." Verity droned. "They said that in Chapter five of that textbook Professor handed out today."

Lily looked up worriedly. "What's wrong?"

Verity sighed. "Nothing. I just think I'll stay put for the holidays."

"Oh." Lily looked disappointed. "Well have a think about it. I'm sure Kate would be happy to have you over for the two weeks."

Verity laid her head back against the tree and closed her eyes. The leaves above her head rustled soothingly and she found herself drifting off…

_She was standing in a small house._

_She was in a kitchen of some sort. Saucepans were neatly hung lining the wall. Muggle photographs (the type that didn't move) were plastered over the fridge, proudly added to by heart magnets and cute phrases._

_She focused her attention onto one photograph in the centre of the fridge; a young girl with long brown hair sat smiling, surrounded by two older women. The taller one was smiling too, but had a serious look about her. The other woman was shorter than the other, and plumper too. But the young girl… that was her, Verity realised. She was much younger in this photo. _

_The taller woman must have been Leanne. Tall, straight, serious. But still happy. And so Kate was the shorter one. Her arm was wrapped around her sister's shoulder as she smiled broadly at the photographer. _

_Verity looked sharply over her shoulder, her thoughts interrupted as an older Kate trotted into the kitchen, humming happily. _

_Kate bustled past the fridge, accidentally knocking one of the heart magnets off. The photo flitted to the ground._

_Tutting to herself, she bent to pick up the fallen memory. _

_The window exploded, glass flying across the room. Verity covered her face and shrieked loudly. _

_A man appeared at the window, his face masked by a dark hood._

"_No mistakes!" he howled, pointing his wand at the cowering woman. _

_There was a flash of light._

She jerked awake.

Her heart was pounding.

"Verity? Oh no you didn't have another – "

Verity leapt up and bolted away from the group.

"Verity! Oh, Verity wait!" Lily stumbled after her.

She ran past the lake, up the winding staircases and into her dormitory. She scrabbled through her trunk and grabbed for a pen and paper.

Lily came breathless behind her. "What's going on?"

"I have to go in the holidays." Verity scribbled on the back of a small piece of parchment.

"What? Why? What did you see?"

"She'll be all alone. The hooded man is coming to get her. I have to protect her."

"What?" Lily leant against the doorframe in confusion.

"I saw him. He got her."

"How you know he's going to get her in the holidays?"

"He won't attack _before_ the holidays. It's too soon. And in the holidays she won't be working. She'll be at home. On her own. I have to go."

"No! You've got to go to someone! Tell someone!"

"They won't help! They never help!" Verity screeched. "It's up to me!"

Lily stared at her. "You're mad! Like a sixteen year old will be able to do anything against a fully grown man!"

"I'm seventeen!" Verity shouted.

"Not until after the holidays you're not!" Lily threw her bag to the ground. "I don't know what is _with_ you! As if you're this poor unfortunate girl who nobody listens to! And the whole fate of the entire world is up to you! Has McGonagall actually ever ignored you? No! Has she dismissed you? No! She always tries to help, she does what she can! You just keep jumping to silly conclusions and you're going to get yourself hurt!"

Verity stared defiantly at Lily. "I'm going." She said evenly. "You can go to Professor McGonagall if you want, but I'm telling you, it's not going to help."

She finished the note, folded up the paper and handed it to May. The owl cocked its head, but took the note, soaring gracefully out into the sky.

* * *

The train rocked slightly on a curve and Verity bounced gently in her seat as she stared solemnly out the window. 

Lily sat awkwardly opposite her, her hands folded in her lap. She sighed. "Ok, I'm sorry for calling you mad."

Verity glanced at her. "What did McGonagall say?"

"I didn't see her after all." Lily fidgeted. "But, you know, Kate should probably be fine."

Verity rested her head against the vibrating window frame. "She probably will be. I'm just," she hesitated. "I'm really worried. I mean, after Emily's dream came true, I've been scared ever since. What about my mum? I saw her fall down those stairs. I just dismissed that. But now I've had this dream. And I'm…" she broke off.

Lily changed seats and sat next to Verity. "Everyone should be fine. Emily was just… a coincidence. I've read about these things. Sometimes particularly sensitive witches and wizards pick up things. But your dreams about Leanne, about Kate. They're just caused by stress. So much has happened lately." She put her arm around Verity.

Verity rubbed at her eyes. "It's just… staying at Kate's is something I can do. I can't just do nothing. If I go to Kate's, it's something I can do. But I can't do anything for mum. She hates me, she rejects me. But Kate, she's open to me. I_ can_ do things for her. To try and help. You know?"

Lily nodded.

There was a knock at the door of the carriage and James poked his head through the door.

"May I have a seat?" he asked courteously.

Lily stared at him. "If you want."

He sat down opposite the two. "Well, I was wondering if we could, set a date for the, the, moovy?"

"The wah?"

"Erm… moovy?"

"Oh!" Lily clasped her hands together. "Right! The movie! Oh, well I don't really mind about when it is. I'm free for most of the holidays."

James nodded eagerly. "Well I'm free this upcoming week. Week after that Sirius and me'll go camping."

"Camping?"

"Oh yes, Muggles do it lots and apparently it's great fun."

"Ah. Well, next week's fine. Actually, how about Thursday?"

James grinned widely. "Thursday's great!"

"I'll owl you the time and stuff ok?" Lily said.

James bounded up from his seat and skipped down the corridor.

Lily looked at Verity. "Will you be going out with Liam these holidays?"

"I don't know. I don't want to leave Kate on her own."

Lily cocked her head and stood up. "Well it's up to you. Anyways we'll be arriving in a few minutes, so we'd better get ready."

The train rocked gently to a stop next to the familiar station. Lugging their trunks behind them, the two pushed their way past eager parents to try and find their own.

Crystal Shore flew into the arms of her mother and father, as Allison Veene trudged through the barrier of Platform 9 ¾, alone.

Lily broke off into the crowd, throwing her arms around her mother and father, her sister standing disapprovingly several feet away.

Verity tripped slightly as Miranda shoved her way past her, throwing her luggage at a small, thin man with a red hat. With a small _oof_ he was knocked backwards into a short couple behind him; Liam's parents, Verity recognised.

"Mummy, that concierge is _dreadful_, fire him at once!" Miranda whined at her mother.

"Then you'll have to carry your own luggage to the portkey now, won't you?" The woman sniffed. "I certainly won't be dragging those useless trunks home."

Verity moved quickly away as Miranda threw a small tantrum in the middle of the platform.

"Vera! Verity I'm over here!" Verity whipped around and saw Kate waving happily from the other side of the station. She ran to meet her.

"Ooh these holidays will be exciting won't they?" Kate chattered on. "A nice break from school. We'll have such fun!"

Verity ignored the sniggering that came from Miranda, who had promptly recovered from her screaming fit in order to jeer at her.

Her spine tingled as Kate grabbed her bags from her, leading her through the barrier onto King's Cross. There was a flurry of commotion on this side of the station, the muggles were running everywhere, shouting and running for lost trains.

"Dear me, Muggles certainly do have it rough don't they?" Kate commented as she led Verity up and down several flights of stairs and led her to a pale blue car. "Trunks in the boot, you can sit in the front and fiddle with the radio if you want."

Kate heaved the heavy trunks into the boot of the car and the two roared off onto a highway.

"Now, today we'll just stay home and organise your room alright? I bought some paint and we can paint it together." She beamed brightly.

"Paint?"

Kate nodded. "Oh yes, because my house is quite stuffy and your room needs a bit of a touch up." She merged into a side lane away form the highway and small cheery houses started appearing on the sides of the road.

"I thought I was only staying for the holidays?"

"Oh yes. You'll stay around my house for the next three holidays – sorry, there are only two left, my mistake – and then after that you'll stay at my house permanently, considering it would be unwise to trespass on your mother any further at the moment."

Verity flinched. She didn't want to think about the situation with her mother. "Oh but I'll get my own place after I leave school." she protested. "I don't want to trespass on you either."

Kate looked surprised. "But you can't. You haven't any money, have you? Where will you stay?"

"When I turn seventeen I'll get a grant from my grandparent's money, won't I?"

The car steered around a group of boys playing cricket on the road, blatantly ignoring the traffic around them.

Kate sighed and the car slowed to a stop outside her suburban home. She rested her head on the steering wheel. "You don't know?" she groaned.

Verity looked at her blankly. "I don't know what?"

"Your mother cut you from your allowance. You'll be getting no money when you turn seventeen." She put a hand on her shoulder. "But I'll support you and you'll be free to stay here for as long as you need, alright?"

No it wasn't alright.

"She can't do that!" Verity cried. "That's my grandparent's money! It was made to go to me."

Kate shook her head. "Your grandparents died before you were born. That money was allocated to you by Leanne, so she has the right to take it away."

Verity kicked the door of the car open, and stormed away from the car.

"Oh please, Vera don't be like that." Kate begged. "Your mother will probably come around. She's just adjusting at the moment." She took the bags from the boot and started up the path. "Let's just go inside and have a cup of tea."

"Oh don't take all my stuff." Verity said with a twinge of regret. "Let me help you."

Kate stopped suddenly, a puzzled look on her face. "What did you say?"

"…Let me help you?"

Kate shook her head as if to clear it. "Never mind. Let's go in."

Wondering, Verity followed her inside the cosy little house. With a flick of her wand, the bags zoomed up the stairs, out of sight.

"Your room's upstairs." Kate explained. "You'll find my house is very much like your mother's. A lot of houses in this general area were designed similarly."

It _was_ similar. The staircase leading up from the front door. The kitchen and a spare room to the left. Living room to the right. Even the location of the fireplace was the same.

"Anywho, let us go and have that cup of tea, shall we?" Kate hurried into the kitchen.

Verity shuffled into the small kitchen and sat on one of the wooden stools by the bench, looking at her surroundings.

Saucepans were neatly hung lining the wall. Muggle photographs were plastered over the fridge, proudly added to by heart magnets and cute phrases.

She focused her attention onto one photograph in the centre of the fridge; a young girl with long brown hair sat smiling, surrounded by two older women. The taller one was smiling too, but had a serious look about her. The other woman was shorter than the other, and plumper too. But the young girl, that was her, Verity realised. She was much younger in this photo.

There was something very familiar about this scene.

"Now where did I put those sugar cubes?" Kate supposed to herself.

She bustled past the fridge, accidentally knocking one of the heart magnets off. The photo flitted to the ground.

Tutting to herself, she bent to pick up the fallen memory.

The window exploded, glass flying across the room. Verity covered her face and shrieked loudly.

"Get down!" she screamed. She lunged off her stool and tackled her aunt to the floor.

Kate yelled loudly and squirmed on the cold tiles of the kitchen floor. "What do you think you're doing?" she moaned.

"There was… there was…" she looked at the window. A figure stood at the window. But it wasn't any man. A small boy with a cricket bat stood mournfully at the window, his hat in his hands, his cheeks burning red. A large cricket ball lay on the counter.

"I'm sorry!" he babbled. "Jerry threw the ball and I hit it too hard. Please don't tell my mum!"

Kate climbed to her feet and inspected the glass all over the floor. "Well who's going to pay for my window, Tim?" she asked, glaring at him.

Verity's stomach churned and she stumbled out of the kitchen as Kate started to lecture the boy. What had happened?

She sat on the bottom of the stairs, her head in her hands. There was no danger. It was just one of those boys playing cricket that she had seen earlier on the road.

Kate came out of the kitchen, finishing her lecture. "So, why did you fling me to the ground?" she eyed Verity carefully.

Verity's throat closed up. "I, uh, tripped."

Kate raised an eyebrow. "You tripped?"

Verity nodded. "The, the window scared me, so I tried to get up off my stool… and tripped. And fell into you. I'm sorry." She apologised.

"Yes, well. You can go and organise your room now. It's in the same place where your old room was in your mother's house."

Verity sprinted up the stairs, eager to get away from the awkward situation.

"Oh but Verity," Kate called. Verity skidded to a stop at the banister. "You know, dreams aren't always true. You don't always need to tackle people when situations in real life are similar to those in your subconscious." With a knowing smile she exited into the kitchen.

* * *

Verity was still slightly stunned as she went to dinner that evening. The two sat opposite one another as they silently ate their lamb and vegetable meal. 

Verity put down her fork. "How did you know I have dreams?"

"Why, everybody has dreams." Kate delicately sliced through her dinner.

"But how did you know I had _that_ dream?"

Kate poked her lamb around on her plate. "A friend told me."

Verity stared at her.

She sighed. "A friend with red hair and green eyes and who is quite worried about you."

"Lily!" Verity shouted.

"Yes well you didn't want her seeing your teacher… Professor McGonagill or something, so she wrote to me instead."

"McGona_gill_?"

"Oh, McGonagill, McGonagall. Same difference." Kate shrugged. "She told me that you had a dream involving me getting attacked by a hooded man and that you weren't leaving the house these holidays because you were going to protect me." She poked her lamb a bit more before continuing: "Also that you're missing out on a lovely little date because of it."

"She told you about Liam?" Verity screeched.

"Liam? Is that his name? Quite nice name really. Reminds me of lamb. I like lamb."

Verity gaped at her. Lamb?

"And no she didn't, by the way, she just said you were missing out on a date that you would regret missing. Anyways, I think you should go with your Liam. I'm perfectly fine on my own."

"But – "

"Well how do you think I feel, as a fully grown witch – I even went to America on a scholarship to become a Healer, thankyou very much – having to have a sixteen year old protect me? Hmm?"

Verity now was the one to start poking her meat.

"Now eat your lamb and write an owl to your friend and tell him you'll be going out on Thursday after all."

"Thursday? What's going on Thursday?"

* * *

Thursday, as it turned out, was Lily and James's arranged date. The only change to their plans was now that Liam and Verity would be attending as well. 

"Lily, you scheming wretch!" Verity stormed towards the girl as she sauntered with James Potter outside the local movie theatre. "You planned the whole thing! You went off and told Liam that I'd changed my mind and I'd be meeting him here with you lot! _And _you write off to my Aunt and tell her about everything!"

Lily darted behind James. "You can't hurt me!" she wailed mockingly. "You can't hit a guy with glasses!"

"Of course I can't hit a guy with glasses!" Verity cried. "A baseball bat's much more useful."

Lily giggled. "Oh but you'll forgive me won't you my little _Vera_."

"Shuddup! Just because Kate calls me that sometimes…"

Lily snorted. "Ah well. The point is that you're here and I'm not dead yet. Quite an achievement." She looked at her watch. "Liam's late."

"We're just early." Verity said hastily.

"Ah of course, quick to defend your boyfriend."

Verity opened her mouth for a sharp reply, but quickly closed it when a boy appeared from around the corner, puffing and panting.

"I'm sorry…. I'm late…" he wheezed. "Car… stalled."

James smiled cheerfully. "Everything's fine. Moov…" he glanced at Lily.

"Movie. Not mooovy." She corrected.

"Right! The movie's not starting for another fifteen minutes."

Liam nodded eagerly.

After buying popcorn, chocolate, ice-cream and any other sort of confectionary that caught their eyes, the four settled down in the cinema.

"What are we actually seeing?" Liam whispered as the lights dimmed.

"Some action movie James thought looked good." Verity passed him a box. "Here's your popcorn."

The person in the seat in front of them turned around abruptly. "Excuse me." She snapped rudely. "We're trying to watch the movie!"

"It hasn't started yet." Lily pointed out. "The screen is still black."

"Don't backtalk to me!" The woman barked.

Liam sunk down into his seat. "Thanks for the popcorn." he nodded nervously at Verity.

The film started and bangs and whistles filled the air as the dashing hero charged through several scenes waving a gun around and pressing strange buttons he knew nothing about, causing massive explosions.

"Great movie he picked!" Verity hissed over at Lily in the dark. "I can't even follow the plot!"

"I think it's good!" Lily hissed back.

"Oh, quick to defend the boyfriend!"

Lily narrowed her eyes as Verity grinned innocently.

The hero of the plot was now creeping through a long, dark hallway as thrilling music came strumming through the background.

Liam was eating his popcorn happily. He'd been dying to go on a date with Verity for some time now. He popped the snack into his mouth just as a gigantic monster burst through the wall of the long, dark hallway, knives hurtling towards the hero.

He jumped violently in his seat, inadvertently sucking the popcorn down into his throat.

He choked, coughing hysterically, knocking the popcorn box off his lap and showering the lady in front with salted popcorn, followed by the soft drink he'd also had sitting in his lap.

She leapt out of her seat manically. "Why you insolent brat!"

Liam leapt up too, grabbing at his throat desperately.

Verity realised what was going on. "Omigosh he's choking!" she scrambled up and grabbed him around the waist, trying to imitate those who know how to do the Heimlich manoeuvrer. Unfortunately, she was not one of those.

"You're doing it all wrong!" James bellowed. He charged forwards, knocking Lily's drink astray, splashing it into the face of the already enraged woman.

James grabbed Liam by the waist and proceeded in trying to free the little piece of popcorn by shaking him up and down roughly.

The lady in front was shrieking to the heavens; her friend had started throwing bits of ice-cream at Verity and Lily; and members of the audience were starting to get tired of the growing noise.

Finally James succeeded; Liam could breathe again.

A light shone from the aisle, blinding them. "What's going on here?" a voice bellowed.

Five minutes later, they found themselves outside the movie theatre; thrown out by the disgruntled owner.

"It's not our fault!" Lily protested at the retreating figure.

Liam blushed. "Sorry," he apologised.

"Well you should be!" James wailed. "I wanted to know how the hero was going to get rid of the monster!"

"Well, the movie part of the date's over. Now we split up into twos." Lily shook her head. "I don't even know why I'm doing this."

"Because I'm charming of course." James puffed out his chest.

"Psh."

The two left Verity and Liam alone.

"Well…uhh…. I planned a picnic. If you still want to go out."

Verity nodded. "Of course I still want to go."

He grinned widely. "I rented a boat."

"You rented what?"

* * *

It was a rickety little rowboat, out on a lake in some place Verity hadn't even heard of. 

A picnic basket lay on the floor of the boat as the two clambered in.

"The boat's fine isn't it? I mean, I tried to get one of the gazebos," he jerked his head in the direction of the nearby park. "But they were all reserved. But if you don't want to sit in the boat, that's fine. We can just sit on the grass and eat instead."

"Boats are fine! I remember when my mum used to take me out in these funny swan boats when I was little." Verity giggled. "One time, my aunt tried to get in with us and went flying overboard."

"Your family sounds great."

"It was."

Liam grabbed the oars and rowed the two out into the middle of the lake. "The water's not that deep." He assured her.

She sat happily as Liam unpacked their lunch. She started to munch on one of the sandwiches as an awkward silence spread.

"Well, this is nice." Verity commented lightly. "You went to a lot of trouble for this."

"Oh, yes, well," he gulped nervously. "I like you a lot." Suddenly he went bright red. He reached around quickly for a water bottle, causing one of the oars to slip into the water.

"Nonono!" he cried. "Get the oar! Get the oar!"

Verity rushed to the side of the rowboat and leant over perilously trying to reach the oar, floating just out of reach. It seemed to be taunting her.

The sudden change of weight in the boat tipped it slightly, letting the other oar fall out of the boat.

Liam gasped and jumped to try and clutch a hold of it, but instead teetered dangerously on the edge of the boat.

"Don't fall in!" Verity shrieked.

Liam went flying comically overboard, splashing into the water. The boat tipped backwards from the fall, and Verity was thrown off her feet, headfirst into the lake.

He was right, the water wasn't that deep – Verity could stand where she was. But that didn't help the situation.

Liam emerged and came to the surface, his hair sleek and plastered against his face.

"Sorry." He apologised. "But at least we got the oars."

* * *

Verity arrived dripping wet back at Kate's place later that afternoon to find two suitcases at the bottom of the stairs. 

Kate greeted her enthusiastically. "Hello Vera!" she frowned. "Why are you wet?"

"Liam pushed me into a pond."

"Oh. Well that wasn't very nice of him."

"It was an accident."

"Oh. Well that wasn't very smart of him."

"Why have you got suitcases packed?"

Kate clicked her fingers. "Well, Leanne has thought things over." She radiated, bouncing on her toes. Verity wondered if Kate ever showed signs of hyperactivity as a youngster. "She rang me – which is a good sign because you know your mother hates telephones – and said she wanted to have us over tonight and have a good chat."

Her jaw dropped. Maybe her mum was finally gaining her senses. She ran forward and threw her arms around Kate joyfully, soaking her. "When are we leaving?"

* * *

Kate knocked on the door of Leanne's house nestled in the midst of London, the evening sky dark above them. A disgruntled Patrick answered the door, a forced smile on his face. 

"Lovely to have you here," he muttered.

Kate, oblivious to the fact that it was _not_ lovely to have them there, rushed through the door and hugged her much taller sister.

Verity moved slowly through the doorway, carefully avoiding Patrick. He glared at her, slamming the door nearly on her foot. "You watch yourself." He snarled.

"What's that?" Kate glanced over her shoulder. "I didn't quite catch what you said."

"Oh, just telling young Veronica here – "

" – Verity." Leanne corrected quickly.

"Oh yes, Verity… just telling her to be careful… she, uh, tripped on the front mat." He patted her on the head.

"Oh. Quite good advice." Kate nodded.

Leanne cleared her throat. "Yes well, I've already prepared dinner. Kate, you'll be sleeping upstairs. You – " she pointed at Verity. "Will be sleeping _down here_ tonight. Spare room next to the staircase."

"Why?"

Leanne blinked, clearly not having thought through the reason for this. She looked over at Patrick for help.

"You'll sleep here," He cut in, "Because I'm telling you to."

Kate's suitcase whizzed up the stairs, while Verity's shot for the spare room.

"Mum, can I talk to you for a minute?" Verity grasped her mother's hand.

Patrick studied her carefully, before leading Kate away into the living room.

"Mum, it's just, I'm sorry for everything, for being a brat, for not liking Patrick. But don't please cut me out of your life. I love you." Before Leanne could react, Verity had hugged her. Leanne's eyes widened abruptly. "Well, now its time for dinner." Leanne waved her hand to the right.

Kate emerged from the room and happily tugged Verity along behind her into the room.

"What kind of stupid name is Verity?" Patrick said in a low voice to Leanne.

"Be quiet! It's a nice name!" Leanne shot him a dirty look. Patrick looked startled as Leanne pushed past him into the room.

They sat around the ornate dining table, eating fish. Verity keenly watched her mother wolf down her meal happily.

"I thought you didn't like fish?" Verity asked.

Leanne's eyes widened abruptly. "Uh, yes, well Kate does, doesn't she?"

Kate looked at her, rather surprised. "Well I'm more of a meaty person myself. But, I think your fish is wonderful. It's a nice meal." She added hastily.

Verity turned her attention to Patrick, across from her. He was tapping his knife against his fork, and, Verity noticed, his left eye was twitching considerably.

"What's with you?"

Kate looked shocked. "Vera darling, don't be so rude!"

Verity sighed and continued with her meal. But the more she watched Patrick out of the corner of her eye, the more she was convinced that something was wrong. As they all finished their dinners, smoothly she reached for the salt and pepper, knocking over the candlestick, causing it to fall into Patrick's plate.

He shot out of his chair violently, crashing into the cabinet behind him. His eyes were crazed, and he was breathing heavily. There was definitely something wrong.

"My dear man, are you alright? The candle didn't burn you did it?" Kate stood up and went over to help him.

"No, no he's alright," Leanne glared at the man. "He's just scared of a little candle." she said tartly.

"Oh and there's wine on your lovely tablecloth. Here, Verity will take the plates and I'll gather up your tablecloth."

"Oh no, don't bother yourselves…" But Verity had already put the plates in a pile was taking them into the kitchen, and Kate had started grabbing at the cloth.

Verity quickly dumped all the plates into the sink, and nervously looking around her, she crept into the front hall and made her way up the stairs. Why couldn't she sleep in her old room? There had to be a reason.

She snuck around the corner to her door and tugged on the handle. Damn, it was locked. Putting her ear to the door, she listened hard.

"What do you think you're doing?" Patrick roared from behind her. She leapt high up into the air. "You're not meant to be here!"

She pushed past him and bolted down the stairs, cannoning into her mother.

"What's going on?" she cried.

Patrick came blundering down the stairs after her. "That brat was upstairs!" he shouted.

"And?" Leanne replied coldly.

Kate came out of the kitchen, large rubber gloves on her hands. "I finished the washing." She said airily. "Is everything alright?"

"Perfectly." Leanne narrowed her eyes at Patrick, before ushering Verity into her new room downstairs.

She sat on the bed and beckoned Verity to do the same.

"Now, I'm sorry for that." She said. "Patrick's just been a bit edgy lately." She gave a faltering smile. "But don't – don't go upstairs. _He_ won't like it. There's nothing to see anyway. Just… dust. So stay down here tonight, ok?" She hesitated, before embracing Verity with a hug.

Leaving the room, she slapped Patrick on the back of the head before leading her sister to her bedroom upstairs.

Verity could hear Leanne and Patrick bickering upstairs and she sighed happily to herself. Her mother was becoming herself again. Her thoughts drifted back to her locked bedroom. She bit her lip, before grabbing her wand and sneaking up the staircase again. She tiptoed to the door and pointed her wand at the lock.

"Alohomora!" she whispered. The door unlocked itself. Triumphantly she pushed the door open, slunk inside and closed the door behind her.

Normally inviting and cheery, it seemed unusually dark.

All the posters of her wizarding idols had been ripped down, and she found all her possessions had been taken and stuffed into a trunk lying on the bed.

There was nothing. So her mother was right; there wasn't anything but dust. But then why didn't Patrick want her up here?

She walked over to the bed, shifted the trunk to the floor and sat on it, thinking. The familiar surroundings comforted her and before she knew it, she'd drifted off to sleep. She didn't notice the footsteps beyond her door, the figure standing by the top of the stairs. She didn't notice the other figure, creeping up behind the first, grasping the vase.

There was a crash, followed by several thumps. Then silence.

Verity's eyes flew open. There was a sickening feeling deep within her. It couldn't be.

She dashed to the door, wrenching it open.

A broken vase lay on the floor.

Patrick stood at the top of the stairs. The downstairs light cast an eerie glow on his face, highlighting his cheekbones, hollowing out his face. He turned slowly and faced Verity, his eyes wild.

And at the bottom of the stairs, lay Leanne, sprawled lifelessly on the cold floor below.

It wasn't a dream this time.

Her mother was dead.

**

* * *

****Author's Note:**

**Unfortunately because school is evil, I probably won't be able to post again until next holidays. **

**Thanks to Anjali, Carmen, Emma, Kendall, Linda and Lydia for reading this over before I posted!**

**Thanks to Emma for coming up with the… err… unusual name for Professor Humperdinkle. **

**Also thankyou to Funniest Home Videos which gave me a lovely idea for the boat scene.**

**Please review!**

**Little Kity**


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